Air Commando Journal (May 2017)

ACA Corporate
Partners Air Commando

Assisting ACA in our mission to support Air Commandos
and their families: Past, Present, and Future JOURNAL
Publisher
PLATINUM Michael Wooley / Email: info@aircommando.org
ARMA Global Corporation
Editor in Chief
Ultra Electronics ICE Dennis Barnett / Email: info@aircommando.org
GOLD Contributing Editors

Scott McIntosh
Arby’s
Michael McKinney
Bell Helicopter – A Textron Company Rick Newton
Elbit Systems of America Dan Settergren
Darrel Whitcomb
L-3 Mission Integration Division
L-3 Platform Integration Public Affairs/Marketing Director
Orbital ATK Shannon Pressley / Email: shannon@aircommando.org
Sierra Nevada Company Graphic Designer
VectorCSP Jeanette Moore / Email: jeanette@aircommando.org
Visual Awareness Technologies & Consulting
Air Commando Association Board of Directors
SILVER ChAirman of the Board :
Boeing Company Michael Wooley, Lt Gen, USAF (Ret)
Creative Awards & Framing President:

FLIR Dennis Barnett, Col, USAF (Ret)
GE Aviation Vice President:

Wayne Norrad, CMSgt, USAF (Ret)
Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company
Pioneer Technologies Corporation Treasurer:
James Connors, Col, USAF (Ret)
BRONZE Executive Directors:

Norman Brozenick Jr., Maj Gen, USAF (Ret)
Booz Allen Hamilton
Clay McCutchan, Maj Gen, USAF (Ret)
Esterline Defense Technologies William Turner, CMSgt, USAF (Ret)
First Command Financial Services Directors:
Rockwell Collins Tom Bradley, Col, USAF (Ret)
The Hoplite Group Chris Foltz, Lt Col, USAF
Gordon Scott, CMSgt, USAF (Ret)
Hollis Tompkins, SMSgt, USAF (Ret)
SPIRIT Micheal Wright, CMSgt, USAF (Ret)
Beam, McLaughlin & Assoc.; Merrill Lynch
Eglin Federal Credit Union
Emerald Coast Convention Center
WinTec Arrowmaker
Advertisers in this issue:

Chief Commercial Claims Branch......................................... 25 Air Commando Association
P.O. Box 7, Mary Esther, FL 32569
Creative Awards...................................................................... 51 Telephone: (850) 581-0099
Emerald Coast Convention Center........................................ 51 Fax: (850) 581-8988
Healing Paws For Warriors..................................................... 28 Web Site: www.aircommando.org Email: info@aircommando.org
Lockheed Martin Corporation............................................... 33 This publication is for the information, interest, and enjoyment of our
Northrop Grumman................................................................ 47 readers. Views and opinions expressed are of the author or source of
material and do not necessarily reflect opinions, views, or endorsements
Scott Photo Works.................................................................. 28 of the ACA. Material in the Air Commando Journal may be reproduced
provided the source is credited. Air Commando Journal is not sponsored
Special Operations Missions................................................. 28 by DOD, USAF, or AFSOC.
Special Operations Warrior Foundation............................... 12 ACA does not endorse any particular candidate or political action group.
Individual members are asked to restrain from inferring or stating any
TSC Productions..................................................................... 51 such association of the ACA in their dealings with these type groups.
2 │ AIR COMMANDO JOURNAL │Vol 6, Issue 1 www.aircommando.org

Air Commando JOURNAL May 2017
Vol. 6, Issue 1
4
Foreword: David Mobley, Col, USAF (Ret)
8
The History of the Joint Special
Operations University
AFSOAWC Parachuting training area of the 336 TRSS

Training & Education school. Students learn safety of the equipment
and techniques on egressing from an aircraft and
landing. (Photo courtesy of 58 SOW)
13 Commander’s Perspective
14 AFSOAWC Training & 34
Education Directorate Focus on the 58 SOW
16 Special Operations School
18 19th’s Role in Air Commando Evolution
5
20 551 SOS Chindit Chatter
22 Education & Training with the 5 SOS
24 371st Turning Airmen Into
6
Hotwash
Air Commandos
27 Partner Nation SOF 30
Aviation Schoolhouse Reflection on MH-53H Training
41
ON THE Paradigm Shift: The Evolution
of Special Tactics’ Training
COVER
Training and Education
46
Collection of photos from AFSOAWC,
The Case for COIN Studies
58 SOW, and STTS depicting the
50
many aspects of the education and
training processes that prepare our Air
Commandos to execute our nation’s
bidding anytime - anyplace! In The Family
www.aircommando.org Vol 6, Issue 1 │ AIR COMMANDO JOURNAL │ 3

FOREWORD
Initial qualification or “pipeline” training (IQT) for aircrews has been a multi-generation debate
for Air Commandos. Arguments usually center on three main dichotomies: 1) should aircrew IQT be
organic to AFSOC or should the task belong to Air Education and Training Command (AETC), 2)
should AFSOC isolate aircraft as dedicated training platforms or should operational and training units
share a single set of mission aircraft, and 3) how much training should be conducted in-flight versus in
the simulator? Each of these choices has their pros and cons depending on the perspectives of the units,
staffs, and headquarters. The solutions usually come down to
human and equipment resourcing, which there is rarely enough of
to allow AFSOC to fully separate training from operations.
Like many, I spent much of my “youth” opposed to AETC
owning the AFSOC formal training pipeline because I thought
AFSOC knew best how to train its own. And, I also wanted to
stay operational. Later, I was assigned to the 550th SOS and
quickly understood why formal aircrew training was conducted
by AETC, separated from the commitments of operations. That
perspective was strengthened when I became the 1st SOG deputy
commander and experienced the challenges of supporting initial
training while also maintaining the group’s operational focus.
Training suffered whenever operations required the SOG to
deploy those highly qualified instructors and scarce mission
aircraft. The AFSOC and AETC teams have always done their
best to share available resources, but when the nation calls,
operations are the priority. That experience reinforced my belief
that it is usually better to let the training professionals focus on
the pipeline while operational units concentrate on operations;
rarely should the two be mixed.
Which brings us to the last point—how much training should be conducted in-flight versus
simulator? This is a real challenge and as you will see in the article from the 58th SOW, the Air
Commandos of AETC seem to have found the right balance point. This issue of the Air Commando
Journal offers a collection of great features describing the diverse array of innovative, challenging, and
impressive training and education programs that are turning Airmen into Air Commandos—mission
focused, adaptive, resilient, and relevant for an ever-changing world. The Air Force Special Operations
Air Warfare Center and the USAF Special Operations School (USAFSOS) are driving the future of
AFSOC education and training through programs like Air Commando Development, an effort to prepare
special operations Airmen for leadership roles in a very uncertain world. The Joint Special Operations
University, which got its start at Hurlburt Field as an outgrowth of USAFSOS, is shaping a new era of
joint SOF education. It is an exciting time for Air Commando training and education and the Journal is
pleased it can help tell that story.
David Mobley, Col, USAF (Ret)

Former Deputy Commander, 1st Special Operations Group

CHINDIT CHATTER
E
very Airman in the Air Force begins their career path encountering the educators and trainers
that set them on the road to success. That probably seems an obvious statement to make. Yet,
I believe that some of the folks most responsible for this country’s exceptional Air Force are
often taken for granted.
As in all things, one’s personal experience forms the basis for each individual’s opinion and
perspective. After completing pilot training, I was assigned as an instructor pilot in T-37s, training
foreign students (mostly Iranians). Later I was nabbed for faculty duty at Air Command and Staff
College and again at National Defense University. In 1993, when the Air
Force decided to stand up more centralized training by turning Air Training
Command into Air Education and Training Command (AETC), I was
assigned as the first Director of SOF/Rescue training. It was while I was
there that I saw first-hand the dichotomy that Dave Mobley describes in the
foreword to this issue. The demand for access to precious few unique and
capable assets is extremely high.
Perhaps it was my personal experience that led me to believe that
we need to educate our readership on the exceptional people who produce
Airmen who are leading the way in a seemingly never-ending conflict. But
there is also a huge amount of critical training and education that is outside
the normal aircrew pipeline.
This edition of the ACJ explores a wide range from the classroom,
the ever critical and high demand Special Tactics training environment,
use of simulation, the evolution of the highly prestigious Joint Special
Operations University, and the innovative inclusion of USAF survival,
escape, resistance, and evasion training opportunities under the 58th SOW.
Our objective is to give the reader a better appreciation of the oft times underappreciated trainers and
educators that produce Air Commandos who are capable of going beyond the norm and taking on
missions and tasks that others cannot. We know that we have not covered all aspects and if we have
missed a particular piece that you feel needs highlighting, we always welcome that feedback and will
work to fix that oversight in the future.
One aspect that we don’t discuss is the ongoing continuation training that keeps the force
honed to a razor’s edge of readiness. This is a requirement across all the specialties that make up the
AFSOC team. Training like we fight is our mantra and is not done without risk as was unfortunately
highlighted with the recent loss of the U-28A at Cannon. We all feel the pain of that loss and our
hearts go out to the families and teammates of Capt. Andrew Becker, Capt. Kenneth Dalga and 1st Lt
Frederick Dellecker of the 318th Special Operations Squadron. RIP.
Any Time—Any Place
Dennis Barnett, Col, USAF (Ret)

ACA President and Editor In Chief

H otwash
Air Commando Journal in the Library of Congress Arts and Humanities program termed “Dialogues On The
Experience Of War,” a nationwide program funded through a
grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Auburn
is one of seventeen institutions nationwide to participate, and
our sessions with military veterans in the Wetumpka and
Montgomery, Alabama, area are a part of a pilot program that
hopes to reap real benefits in assisting military veterans who
strive to deal with the effects of PTSD. The heroic story of Col
Jackson’s Mother’s Day, 1968, rescue of American military at
Kham Duc outpost will be shared with those participants in our
program in an effort to further stimulate discussion of their own
experiences. Again, thank you for sharing the additional copies
which we anticipate will be of great benefit to our program.
Respectfully yours,
I am interested in obtaining an ongoing run of your Jim Lawrence, Lt Col, USAF (Ret)
publication Air Commando Journal for the collections of the ACA Life Member
Library of Congress. Could you send me information on whom Cecil, AL
to contact and pricing, so I may send that information on to our
acquisitions department?
Book Review
Thank you. I’m sure you are getting overloaded with queries of this
Will Elsbury type, so that makes me still one of the bunch. Re: The book
Military History Specialist review of Wings of Denial in the Air Commando Journal,
Humanities and Social Sciences Division Where is this book available and the probable cost? Thank you
The Library of Congress in advance.
101 Independence Ave, SE Charlie B-26 Harper
Washington, DC 20540 ACA Life Member
Charlie,
Mr. Elsbury, Wings of Denial: The Alabama Air National Guard’s
Good morning and thank you for reaching out to the Air Covert Role at the Bay of Pigs is available on www.amazon.
Commando Association. We are honored to add the Library com or www.abebooks.com, and other websites that sell books
of Congress to the Air Commando Journal distribution list. online. The average price is between $15 and $20. We hope
Subscriptions used for educational purposes are available at no this information is helpful.
charge, up to five copies per issue. Respectfully,
Thank you again for reaching out to us, requests like these Jeanette Moore
are very rewarding to our publication’s editors and staff as Media Coordinator
their vision for the Air Commando Journal has always been to
educate and preserve history.
We can be reached at 850-581-0099 should you have any Thank You!
questions. Dear ACA,
Warm Regards, I [contacted] you a few weeks ago, and discussed with you
Shannon Pressley that CMSgt (Ret) William Turner was going to be the guest
Executive Assistant speaker for the Eglin AFB Chief’s Recognition Ceremony.
I was assigned to Hurlburt for most of my career and
have known Bill Turner for many years. When asked if there
2012 Fall Issues of Journal was an association we could help monetarily was a token of
Thank you for sending some extra copies of the 2012 Fall appreciation for his services, he stated the ACA. As such,
issue of the Air Commando Journal with Harry Bright’s terrific please accept the enclosed check for $200. Thanks for what
article about Col Joe Jackson’s daring rescue at a Special Forces your organization is doing to help AFSOC’s warriors.
camp in Vietnam that resulted in Jackson being awarded the
Congressional Medal of Honor. The Journal material will go CMSgt Sean Medsker
to a very good use. I am working with an Auburn University 33d Operations Group Superintendent

Doolittle Raider Supports ACA Dear Col Barnett,
I want to thank you and the Air Commando Foundation
for your generous gift to the TSgt at Det 2, 25th Intelligence
Squadron, RAF Mildenhall. Your contribution enabled the
TSgt and his family to travel back to the US and support their
extended family during a time of significant loss.
With Respect,
Matt Smith
Commander, 352d SOW
Dennis Barnett,
Wayne Norrad let me know that Air Commando Foundation
(ACF) has rolled in again and is going to support two weeks of
the costs for one of our Air Commandos to remain at EXOS. I
can’t thank you and the ACF enough for the strong support to
ensure he gets the max care before he leaves the Air Force.
ACF defines “wingman” and we know you have our backs
in times of need. Please pass my personal thanks to all the
members of the ACA!
Lt Col Richard “Dick” Cole showing his support for the Air Hoo-yah Team,
Commando Association. An original Air Commando, Hump Col M. Martin, Commander 24 SOW
Pilot, and co-pilot to then Lt Col James “Jimmy” Doolittle on First There...That Others May Live
the famous Tokyo Raid in 1942. He’ll turn 102 years old on
Sept 7, 2017.
__________________________________________________
Wes Fields
ACA Life Member Submissions can be e-mailed to info@aircommando.org or
Fort Walton Beach, FL mailed to Hot Wash c/o Air Commando Association, P.O. Box
7, Mary Esther, FL 32569. ACA reserves the right to eliminate
those that are not deemed appropriate. Thank you in advance
for your interest in the Air Commando Journal.
Air Commando Foundation

Dear Sirs,
I would like to inform you that I received the check issued
by Air Commando Foundation yesterday. My family and
I would like to take this opportunity to express our deepest
Thank you
gratitude for your financial assistance, especially in our time
of mourning. Your organization’s generosity and support
have provided us some solace knowing that we would not be
financially burdened by repaying back the money we owed.
It’s times like these that I’m glad I’m a part of the greatest
organization in the world where taking care of each other
is a top priority. Again sir, thank you and please extend our
appreciation to the Air Commandos for the aide you and
your organization have provided me and my family. If there’s
anything I can do to repay you back, please let me know. Have
a wonderful Air Force day. 2015 and 2016
Sincerely,
Ray
ACA Convention Title Sponsor

2000- 2016 Figure 1. The Alison Building, Hurlburt Field, FL.
By Brian A. Maher, Ed.D.

The concept of a joint education two dozen assigned staff, its effect on a variety of alternatives, and develop
institution for special operators was not education was minimal, and some even what would eventually become JSOU.
new with the creation of the Joint Special considered it disruptive or disconnected GEN Schoomaker remained personally
Operations University (JSOU). When from the existing educational activities at engaged in JSOU’s development. Of
the US Special Operations Command the component schoolhouses. Although primary importance was to give the new
(USSOCOM) was established in 1987, limited in its effectiveness, the JSOFI institution a single focused mission and
its first commander, GEN James Lindsey, concept continued the prevailing opinion a dedicated Flag Officer leader. The
realized the importance of a dedicated of USSOCOM leaders that joint SOF initial concept called for a small “start-
joint schoolhouse. With the USAF education needed improving. The staff up” effort that, although an independent
Special Operations School’s (USAFSOS) functions of JSOFI were transferred to organization, would take advantage of
almost exclusive focus on Special HQ USSOCOM in 1999 and currently already established SOF institutions.
Operations Forces (SOF) education, he reside in the J7 joint training directorate. The natural outlet for this was to place
quickly utilized their existing capability When GEN Peter Schoomaker SOFU at Hurlburt Field, integrated with
to fill the role of the joint SOF school. became the commander of USSOCOM the USAFSOS, to continue their already
Many joint courses evolved over the in 1997, he established a Future Concept established trend of joint education.
years at USAFSOS and its student Working Group. This dynamic team These early decisions set the conditions
population maintained a significant initiated several important projects, to for JSOU to become a reality.
joint balance. In 1995, GEN Downing include developing the SOF2020 Vision
launched the Joint Special Operations that continued to define a need for a SOF- The First Year – Getting
Forces Institute (JSOFI) at Ft Bragg, specific joint education solution. The idea Established
NC and designated the US Army John F. of a Special Operations Forces University The activation ceremony for the
Kennedy Center and School commander (SOFU) emerged from a series of university was held at Hurlburt Field on
as the director. Unfortunately, JSOFI’s discussions and workshops. Participants 29 Sep 2000, and was officiated by GEN
focus extended beyond joint education from the headquarters, the components, Schoomaker. BG Kenneth Bergquist, US
and included both doctrine development and the SOF schoolhouses worked Army, was appointed as the first president
and joint training oversight. With only together to shape the concept, analyze of JSOU and his top priority was to

establish a close relationship between Commander, prevented JSOU’s early With its primary mission to fill joint
JSOU and USAFSOS, as envisioned in demise. It was only the support by senior special operations education requirements
the original SOFU concept. While a joint leadership at USSOCOM that kept JSOU not addressed in Service programs,
manning document was being developed, development on track to become the several initiatives were launched in
JSOU relied upon USAFSOS for institution we know today! JSOU’s early years that continue today.
manning, processes, and curricula. The During a visit to a Service professional
first organizational structure called for Early Initiatives military education (PME) institution,
administrative support from USAFSOS JSOU, along with the rest of the US, Gen Holland was shocked to learn from
while JSOU provided joint faculty in quickly adapted to the terrorist events of the SOF students that very little of their
return. The Joint Operations Division 11 Sep 2001. SOF units preparing for war formal program was of direct value to
and the newly created Asymmetric requested educational assistance with their needs. He tasked JSOU to develop
Warfare Division were led and partially special operations planning, command a solution, resulting in increased direct
staffed by JSOU personnel (see Figure & control, unconventional warfare, and support and enhancing the SOF Education
2), representing the true essence of regional orientations. This latter area was Council that links SOF “Chairs,” the
the concept with day-to-day functions and continues to be an area that USAFSOS special operations experts assigned to
and course execution controlled by the has significant expertise. Reaching out most PME Institutions, with the broader
USAFSOS Commandant. This structure to units during pre-deployment became USSOCOM education community. By
worked well since the early curriculum a priority for the combined efforts of 2004, JSOU was providing over 350
was largely that already existing at JSOU and USAFSOS. Mobile education contact hours of joint SOF education to
USAFSOS, but with significantly added teams of 2-5 faculty experts became a the first year program at the US Army
jointness. mainstay of the curriculum. JSOU also Command & General Staff College, 2
special operations electives to the Army’s
Advanced Studies program, and directing
the masters theses of 4 – 8 SOF students
each year. While not to the same extent
as for the Army, JSOU was also actively
supporting the Naval War College, the
Joint Command & Staff College, and the
Air Command & Staff College.
JSOU Press was also established
to provide special operations-oriented
research, analysis, and publications, and
expand the body of SOF knowledge
and awareness along lines similar to the
Services’. Today this is a formal JSOU
program of peer-reviewed monographs,
directed studies, symposia, and
occasional papers, plus numerous articles
published in professional journals such
Figure 2. JSOU President’s Briefing to the SOF Education Conference (July 2002)
as the Joint Forces Quarterly, Royal
Air Force Air Power Review, Special
Operations Journal, and National
While local activities in the now experimented with technology solutions, Defense University’s PRISM.
shared Alison Building were going as conducting several courses via video
planned, implementation of the long teleconferencing (VTC) and investing Decision to Move
range processes and understandings with in a dedicated VTC-based classroom at In 2007, JSOU conducted a SOF
HQ USSOCOM were just beginning. The the US Army John F. Kennedy Special Education Study and developed the
miniscule budget JSOU inherited from the Warfare Center and School – going so far JSOU Future Concept which recognized
JSOFI was insufficient for its duties and as to pay for the equipment and on-site the expanding role of education to the
responsibilities. Developing a Program facilitator, for those special operators at SOF community. The study showed
Objective Memorandum and validating Ft Bragg who could not attend JSOU and numerous joint educational needs not
new educational requirements envisioned USAFSOS courses in residence. One unit being fulfilled, placed new emphasis
in the JSOU Charter consumed significant commander emphatically stated that his on Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO)
energy from the fledging JSOU staff. In unit would not have been able to receive education, increased civilian academic
fact, headquarters reticence was the norm such needed education without the use of education opportunities, and validated
and only the personal intervention of Gen VTC due to the constraints of available that JSOU should be co-located with
Charles Holland, the new USSOCOM time. HQ USSOCOM. The potential move

to Tampa was settled when GEN Doug Brown approved a International Engagement
military construction (MILCON) project at MacDill AFB to Commensurate with the command’s direction to “Expand
create a facility entirely dedicated to joint SOF education. the Global SOF Network” and increase support to international
GEN Brown also converted the president from a military billet partners, JSOU commenced an academic engagement
to a government civilian in the Senior Executive Service. One program to directly support each Theater Special Operations
of the first decisions made by the new civilian president was to Command’s (TSOC) Theater Security Cooperation Plan. Early
develop the timetable and plan for JSOU to re-locate to Tampa, activities focused on a bilateral relationship with NATO Allied
Florida, a decision that received the full backing of ADM Eric Command Operations and the NATO School. In the course of
Olson early in his tenure as the USSOCOM Commander. developing NATO special operations curriculum, JSOU faculty
Another high priority goal determined by the SOF influenced burgeoning NATO special operations doctrine and
Education Study was an increased commitment to the education provided the foundations for SOF education in NATO. During
of SOF NCOs. Spearheading this effort was CSM Tommy those early years, on behalf of SOCEUR’s theater engagement
Smith, the USSOCOM Command Senior Enlisted Leader, and program, JSOU was actively engaged with helping Germany,
his vision of a Joint SOF Senior Enlisted Academy (JSOFSEA) Poland, the UK, Norway, and Sweden to shape and form joint
as the first joint senior enlisted PME course in the Department special operations organizations that would address those
of Defense (DOD). Unlike formal PME programs designated nations’ ambitions. Many of those relationships continue today.
for officers that included substantial joint education, enlisted By 2008 JSOU was forging a strong academic relationship with
PME focused almost exclusively on Service requirements. what would become the NATO SOF Headquarters (NSHQ)
In fact, there was no mechanism available to regulate or training & education directorate (now the NATO Special
synchronize the various senior NCO academies’ learning Operations School) at Chièvres Air Base, Belgium. To solidify
expectations. This resulted in a wide variance in program its credentials in the NATO international community, JSOU
duration and emphasis across the different Services. JSOU lost was formally admitted as a NATO Partnership Training and
no time in hosting a curriculum development workshop and Education Centre (PTEC) in 2015 and received formal NATO
including all USSOCOM components. ADM Olson approved validation of our international courses by Allied Command
the plan and signed the JSOFSEA letter of intent in Mar Transformation a year later.
2008. This was subsequently recognized by all Services as JSOU’s successful Special
Operations Combatting Terrorism
series of courses has been a recognized
invitational element of DOD’s Regional
Defense Counterterrorism Fellowship
Program (CTFP), providing both an
in-residence course format and a more
flexible mobile education team option.
The basis of JSOU’s CTFP program
included tailoring existing curriculum for
an international audience and developing
a new four course series, aimed at the
mid-grade staff thru General Officer/
Executive levels, to complete a career-
long array of combatting terrorism
focused courses. Of note was JSOU’s
recent leadership in several key programs,
including the Senior Seminars for
Resistance and Resilience for SOCEUR,
Figure 3. Student Growth (Academic Years [AY] 2012 through 2016)
a series of strategic seminars with
Colombia’s Centro Regional de Estudios
Estratégicos en Seguridad (or CREES),
an equivalent to their traditional programs. With the success the Fuerzas Comando Senior Officers Seminar in support of
of the initial course and the growing demand for joint NCO SOCSOUTH, and the SOCNORTH Regional Symposium on
PME, JSOU created a four-phase Career Education Program Combatting Transnational Organized Crime.
(CEP) for SOF enlisted leaders, starting at the E-6 grade level
and continuing through those E-9s who serve in nominative The Move to Tampa
senior enlisted advisor billets under General/Flag officers. This In the summer 2010, JSOU relocated from Hurlburt Field
one-of-a-kind joint PME program is an excellent example of to co-locate with USSOCOM in Tampa, taking up residence
life-long learning providing the right education opportunities in an interim leased facility just outside the main gate of
at the right time in an NCO’s career. It is receiving widespread MacDill AFB. In Apr 2011, ADM Olson officially dedicated
acclaim throughout the SOF community. the JSOU Pinewood Campus that was to serve thousands of

students through 2016. During this period, JSOU experienced The design-thinking program has been hugely successful
phenomenal growth in both the number of courses offered and demand for the courses and facilitators has steadily
and in the number of students attending, due primarily to the increased as senior leaders recognize the value of the process.
increased interaction with the headquarters. JSOU has continued to place priority on NCO education;
By 2014 JSOU surpassed the 10,000 student mark for the continuing education for the USSOCOM headquarters,
first time, which was the fifth consecutive year of increasing components, and the TSOCs; increasing support for TSOCs’
student attendance in its academic programs and courses, engagement initiatives; supporting the PME institutions;
confirming the value of the move to Tampa. This growth trend and continuing to develop SOF-specific undergraduate
has continued (see figure 3) through the present day with and postgraduate courses. JSOU continues to build strong
increases of approximately 20% each year over the entire partnerships with civilian universities that will apply JSOU
5-year period. course credits toward a variety of degree programs.
The Present
In 2014 JSOU realigned into a true university structure,
while preserving its original continuing education focus
aimed at supporting the joint academic needs of USSOCOM
headquarters, the SOF components, and the TSOCs. This
has proven to be a sound decision and a significant first step
for JSOU’s future recognition as an accredited postgraduate
institution. JSOU courses are becoming increasingly more
focused on higher levels of learning while academic processes
are achieving the academic standards found in major
civilian universities. JSOU is currently pursuing legislative
and accreditation actions that will meet the USSOCOM
Commander’s intent for enhanced joint education, and
has already developed a joint SOF Graduate Certificate,
“Foundations of Special Operations,” composed of four Figure 4. New JSOU Faculty on MacDill AFB, FL.
master’s level courses. At this time two additional certificates
are under development: a four-course Advanced Special
Operations Intelligence Certificate, and a three-course The Future
Advanced SOF Chaplaincy Certificate. Both will award As we enter 2017, JSOU’s final transformational steps
postgraduate credits. are underway. JSOU has relocated to a new purpose-built
A major initiative in 2015 was the establishment of the academic facility. (see Figure 4) This postures JSOU to begin
“USSOCOM Design Thinking” program. This was tasked by a new era of academic excellence in a building designed for
the USSOCOM Commander in January 2015, and the design 21st century learning. The JSOU faculty is adapting to the
thinking faculty developed and validated a a three-course capabilities inherent in this modern facility and is taking
curriculum: Introduction to USSOCOM Design Thinking, advantage of its potential for improved student learning,
Design Thinking for Practitioners, and Executive Overview of while increasing innovative educational opportunities across
USSOCOM Design Thinking. Course enrollment rose steadily the SOF enterprise. Beyond the new building, JSOU’s
throughout the year with several USSOCOM Directors, initiatives include establishing a Countering Weapons of Mass
components, and TSOCs requesting mobile education team Destruction curricula and increasing cyber-related topics into
versions for their staffs and leadership. Taking design thinking existing courses, while achieving postgraduate accreditation.
education beyond the classroom, the design thinking faculty All considered, these milestones will complete JSOU’s
has facilitated transformational applications of USSOCOM transformation and inaugurate a new era in SOF education,
Design Thinking across the SOF enterprise. The USSOCOM wherein JSOU fully supports the emerging joint academic and
Chief of Staff went so far as to say, intellectual needs of our community and partners.
“USSOCOM has embraced design thinking and it

has improved the way we deal with complex and ill-
defined challenges. The more we learn to use design About the Author: Dr Maher is the current President of the Joint
thinking and become comfortable with its collaborative Special Operations University and has been associated with JSOU
since its inception. He is a life-long member of the Air Commando
approach, the more it will improve our critical
Association, and served in numerous joint SOF, AFSOC and
thinking, creativity, and innovation, thereby helping education assignments. He is a command pilot with over 5,000
the command overcome many of the bureaucratic hours and retired as an USAF O-6 in June 2000, after serving as
obstacles that every large organization faces.” the 15th Commandant of the USAF Special Operations School.

Air Commando Association
Because of your support to the
Special Operations Warrior Foundation,
Catherine will fufill her dream
of a college education.
Empowering
through Education
Catherine is the daughter

of Air Force Tech. Sgt.
James Henry, who lost his
life in Albania in 2005 while
assigned to the 7th Special
Operations Squadron.
www.specialops.org
The Special Operations Warrior Foundation ensures full college educations to the surviving children of Army,
CFC # 11455
Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps special operations personnel who lose their life in the line of duty. The Special
Operations Warrior Foundation also provides financial stipends to severely wounded special operators.

Commander’s
Perspective
By Col Nathan Green
It is a great honor to have this opportunity The Training and Education (TE)
to showcase the numerous efforts of our directorate is the gateway to SOF for
Airmen in the Air Force Special Operations America’s Airmen. From the USAF Special
Air Warfare Center. Long time members of Operations School (USAFSOS) to the 19th
AFSOC were first introduced to us as the Air SOS, and every step in between, we are laser
Force Special Operations Training Center focused on providing the highest quality and
(AFSOTC). This issue of the Air Commando best-trained people to the operational units
Journal will focus on our Training and in AFSOC. This year alone, we’ve trained
Education (TE) Directorate, but our mission over 10,000 students, including 314 new Air
has grown well beyond that important task. Commandos. In addition, we’ve flown 10,000
This collection of articles will explore who training flight hours and 20,000 simulator
we are, what we do, and most importantly, hours to produce 86 combat crews. We’ve
how we maintain strategic relevance to also expanded our enterprise by creating
AFSOC, the Air Force, and ultimately to a new AC-130J schoolhouse, inheriting
USSOCOM. the MC-130H Talon II schoolhouse from
The Air Force Special Operations Air Kirtland, and opening up C-146 training
Warfare Center concentrates on three primary at Duke Field. On the partnership building
mission sets: Irregular Warfare, Combat side, we’ve executed 48 multinational
Development, and Training and Education. engagements that trained 126 allied SOF
Regular readers of ACJ may recall the units and 1300 joint force students. Last but
issue highlighting our Irregular Warfare not least our Language Center created 650
(IW) Directorate, specifically the Combat proficient Air Commandos in 14 languages.
Aviation Advisor mission. I’m excited to The exponential growth in our
report that we are once again reorganizing, TE directorate has not impacted the
growing, and further developing our overall quality of our product, and that is
capabilities to assess, train, advise, and assist completely due to the dedication of the
Partner Nation (PN) forces in SOF Mobility, men and women in AFSOAWC. In 1997,
ISR and Light Strike. There are some very when then-Lieutenant Green first entered
exciting evolutions underway in our Combat AFSOC, a retired Air Commando named
Aviation Advisor community in the 6th SOS Bernie Frakes was my instructor. He was
and 711th SOS. We are growing rapidly and always willing to go the extra mile to make
looking for the right people to fill critical sure we understood the importance of our
advisor billets from both inside and outside training and our mission. That left a lasting
the SOF community. impression on me that persists 20 years later,
Another key mission set of our Center is and the best part is that Mr. Frakes is still
the Combat Development (CD) directorate. here teaching students. From an instructor
Here, we test and develop the latest arsenal pilot in Vietnam to teaching for AFSOAWC
of AFSOC combat aircraft and capabilities. today, Mr. Frakes continues to pour himself
With over 88 programs and 1,700 test into the next generation of Air Commandos.
activities, the Center is at the forefront of It’s this kind of inspiration that will keep
improving the lethality and effectiveness future generations of Air Commandos at a
of every AFSOC aircraft including the world class level.
upgraded AC-130J gunship. We round
out this advancement effort through small
business innovation partnerships, virtual About the Author: Col Nathan C. Green is the
reality training development, and new Commander of the Air Force Special Operations
missile datalink capabilities. The small Air Warfare Center and is responsible for the
but agile CD directorate is the vehicle training and education of Air Force special
through which the Center keeps AFSOC operations forces; AFSOC’s Irregular Warfare
highly relevant in developing tomorrow’s program; and innovation, development, and
warfighting technology. operational testing in support of AFSOF.

AFSOAWC Training
Readiness starts with training and education to our Air Commandos. As
education. After nearly two decades GEN Joseph Votel, the former USSOCOM
of continuous worldwide engagement, Commander said, “Innovative and cutting-
USSOCOM and AFSOC have edge training and education programs
acknowledged the need to properly [will] ensure we have combined the
resource and prioritize their training right people, capabilities, and great ideas
and education programs. Given this new required to win and prevail in an uncertain
focus, it is absolutely critical that we world.”
invest in and take full advantage of this The Air Force Special Operations
opportunity to transform our training and Air Warfare Center’s (AFSOAWC)
education programs. Legacy training and Training and Education (TE) Directorate
is responsible for the
management and oversight
of 5 squadrons, 27 aircrew
training pipelines in 8
different major weapons
systems, 7 ground training
pipelines, and 18 educational
courses delivered in 9
different languages. The TE
directorate is structured and
functions like an operations
group, is responsible for
coordinating and executing
AC-130J departs for live fire test mission. (Photo courtesy USAF)
training and education
programs within AFSOC,
and has direct links to the
education delivery methods will never AFSOC staff to help inform planning,
allow AFSOC to achieve SOCOM’s goal programming, and budgeting of AFSOC’s
of “professionally trained, culturally training and education programs.
astute, language-capable, and situationally Flying training is conducted by
adaptable forces capable of executing AFSOAWC’s 19th, 5th, and 551st Special
the full range of SOF activities.” True Operations Squadron at Hurlburt Field
transformation means training smarter, and Cannon AFB. These flying training
keeping the best of the current and squadrons are responsible for AFSOC
leveraging the most promising of future aircrew qualification and continuation
learning standards, in order to deliver training on all strike, ISR, and mobility
relevant and focused 21st century aircraft except for the CV-22 and MC-130J.

USAFSOS cadre demonstrates foreign weapons capabilities during a
Dynamics of International Terrorism course. (Photo by Lori Werth)
g & Education Directorate

The units are also responsible for managing and maintaining that is responsive and relevant for operational ground, flying,
the majority of AFSOC’s stateside simulators. and simulator instruction.
This Directorate’s 371st Special Operations Combat AFSOAWC is committed to training and educating
Training Squadron trains AFSOC security forces, intelligence Air Commandos, ensuring their readiness to execute global
personnel, combat aviation advisors, small unmanned aircraft special operations today, and transforming the force to
system operators, and all personnel requiring
field skills. AFSOC’s operational education
and language courses are also managed by the
TE directorate and taught by the USAF Special
Operations School at Hurlburt Field.
The TE directorate is a key component
of AFSOC’s Air Commando Development
program, which focuses on providing Air
Commandos the appropriate developmental
opportunities at the right time throughout their
career. Air Commando Indoctrination focuses
on introducing new Airmen to AFSOC and
teaching aviators the field skills they will need
to operate on the ground in hostile and uncertain
environments. The end state of Air Commando
Development are special operators that can
think critically, work seamlessly with others in
any environment, and lead courageously.
With an objective eye and renewed
focus, the AFSOAWC TE directorate intends C-146 lands on dirt runway. (Photo courtesy of 524th SOS)
to drive the evolution of AFSOC’s training
and education enterprise and become the focal point in the maintain relevance tomorrow. We will institutionalize cutting
command for innovative learning. Doing so not only supports edge training to synchronize and manage AFSOC’s training &
USSOCOM and AFSOC priorities, but also helps realize the education enterprise, optimize human performance, enhance
vision to transform today’s Air Commandos into future special talent management, and continue to standardize training and
operators: resilient critical thinkers, full spectrum operators, education programs. We also have initiatives underway to
and innovative leaders trained, educated, and equipped with standardize combat aviation advisor training, and identify and
broad special operations backgrounds ready to become exploit innovative delivery methods.
tomorrow’s SOF senior leaders. In order to do this and to Because people are AFSOC’s most important resource,
stay focused on task, our mission is to effectively synchronize AFSOAWC now has the opportunity to carve a path for the
and execute AFSOC’s training and education plans and command, drive the evolution of AFSOC’s training enterprise,
programs, identify and prioritize resources focused on training and become the focal point for innovative and powerful
transformation, and expertly manage training and education learning…creating the future of AFSOC.

Participants from numerous partner nations participate in AFSOAWC’s
Building Partner Capacity Seminar. (Photo by Lori Werth)
Special Operations School

By Mr Joe Polhamus
Since 1967, the mission of the USAF Special Operations to conducting 120 iterations of 18 different formal courses
School (USAFSOS) has been to deliver responsive and relevant and 55 mobile education events per year. USAFSOS currently
education, enabling Air Commandos to excel in complex and provides Special Operations Forces (SOF) indoctrination,
ambiguous operational environments world-wide. USAFSOS as well as political, military, and cultural studies supporting
provides operational military education to enable special special operators in each geographic combatant command.
operators to better perform their unique mission sets. The The school also provides specialized instruction on irregular
courses, seminars, and workshops are tailored to each unit’s warfare principles, building partner nation aviation capacity,
mission and theater of engagement. aviation foreign internal defense, dynamics of international
Today’s USAFSOS is the product of a 50-year evolutionary terrorism, and command, control, and integration of Air Force
process. That process began when President John F. Kennedy, special operations assets. In FY16, USAFSOS graduated over
facing aggressive, Communist-sponsored subversion and 5900 students, to include 31 international students.
One of USAFSOS’ unique contributions
to Air Commando education and training is
its award-winning Language and Culture
Center (LCC). The center offers initial
and sustaining language courses in Arabic,
Dari, French, Indonesian, Polish, Russian,
and Spanish to individuals and units. The
LCC also provides pre-deployment cultural
familiarization and area orientations tailored
to specific regions and ethnic/social groups.
Recently, the LCC expanded to add a satellite
operating location at Duke Field. This adds
capacity to better serve the entire joint SOF
community in north-west Florida—AFSOC
and 7th Special Forces Group.
USAFSOS is the only USAF user of
Air Commandos learn language and culture. (Photo by Lori Werth) the Military Accessions Vital to National
Interests (MAVNI) program, which recruits
legal immigrants who are not citizens in
insurgency around the world, directed the Services to restore order to gain native language and cultural skills in critically
the unconventional and guerrilla warfare capabilities and needed languages. The MAVNI program provides successful
doctrines that had been lost since the end of the Second World applicants an expedited naturalization process to gain US
War. As a result, the Air Force increased the emphasis given to citizenship by serving in the US military. MAVNI Airmen serve
special air warfare training. as language and cultural advisors, and provide a unique SOF
USAFSOS has grown from teaching a few Vietnam- resource for education, training, and direct support in deployed
oriented theater indoctrination and irregular warfare courses, environments. The MAVNI Airmen also provide formidable

TRAINING
Dynamics of International Terrorism
cadre demonstrates how vulnerable
one can be to attack.
(Photo by Lori Werth)
support as role-players during “working and two-week resident instruction delivered

through an interpreter” training, pre- by outstanding subject matter experts. But
deployment cultural training, and classroom AFSOC is a much larger command than it was
instruction. even a few years ago and Air Commandos are
The courses USAFSOS offers are based deploying continuously. It will be impossible
upon the USSOCOM Commander’s Training to meet the ACD requirements unless
and Education Guidance, the regional expertise USAFSOS adopts innovative and flexible
and cultural education for Special Tactics, educational methods, to include blended
and AFSOC’s Air Commando Development learning—combining in-residence instruction
(ACD) initiative. The addition of the ACD with on-line modules. The first stage will
pipeline requires all AFSOC aircrew to attend transition the four most utilized ACD courses:
the Introduction to Special Operations Course, AFRICOM Theater Course, CENTCOM
Intercultural Competencies Basic Course, Theater Course, SOF Air Command and
SOF Air Command and Control Course, and a Control, and Intercultural Competency Basic
couple USAFSOS electives. Air Commandos Course to the blended learning format. Look
may choose their electives from any of the for the first blended courses to be available in
18 courses; however most choose one of the Academic Year 2018.
theater engagement courses. It is an exciting time to be an Air
The ACD initiative is a tremendous Commando at USAFSOS, delivering first-
opportunity to ensure that Air Commandos class, relevant, and timely education to
are equipped with the knowledge necessary Special Operations Airmen worldwide.
for success in the most complex and
ambiguous environments, wherever their
talents are needed. To address this exciting
About the Author: Mr Joe Polhamus is the
new educational requirement USAFSOS Director of Institutional Effectiveness at USAF
will need to expand its throughput by 1,300 Special Operations School, Hurlburt Field, FL.
students per year. Thus, the faculty and He has served as the Chief of Education &
staff will be changing the way curriculum is Training program at the Special Tactics Training
delivered. Since 1967 the model has been one Squadron (2003-2015).

By Lt Col Chris Tharp
The 19th SOS was created to provide cornerstone of the AFSOC mission. a new chapter in its long history of
an organic formal training program for MC-130H, C-145, and C-146 crews gunship training. AFSOC gunship
AFSOC’s unique weapon systems like learn NVG, low level, and airdrop skills platforms continue to be some of the
the AC-130H, AC-130U, MH-53, and to support special operations forces most requested close air support (CAS)
MC-130E. However, the enemy, the during contingency operations. C-145 aircraft in the Air Force. New students
terrain, and technology have evolved and and C-146 crews also learn to land on train in a variety of missions like CAS,
driven modernization and recapitalization and work in some of the most austere interdiction, and armed reconnaissance,
of our weapon systems. Today the locations in the world. and within the next three years the AC-
squadron provides formal, refresher, The U-28A is a very effective 130J schoolhouse will be the largest
and mission rehearsal training in SOF manned ISR aircraft. The 19th SOS training program in AFSOC.
mobility, intelligence, surveillance, and trains an average of one new class each Creating Air Commandos is a team
reconnaissance (ISR), and precision month and the graduates will ultimately effort, and the journey begins well
strike for the MC-130H, U-28A, AC- receive orders to one of three operational before the students enroll in the 19th
130U, AC-130J “Ghostrider”, Tactical squadrons located at either Hurlburt or SOS. Students begin their training with
Support Operators (TSOs), and Direct Cannon. The service these crews provide a series of advanced academic courses
Support Operators (DSOs) at Hurlburt to ground forces and decision makers has at the USAF Special Operations School
Field, and the C-145 and C-146 at Duke played a pivotal role in eliminating some and the 371st Special Operations Combat
Field. The 19th also provides refresher, of the highest level enemy personnel Training Squadron. These courses are
continuation, and distributed mission from the battlefield. designed to expose the Airmen to a
operations (DMO) training for the CV- The AC-130J formal training variety of situations, knowledge, and
22. program stood up officially in late capabilities, to begin thinking like an Air
Special operations mobility is the 2016 and with it the 19th SOS began Commando. After the academic courses,

Crew member boards an AC-130J. (Photo courtesy USAF)
the students begin the technical portion they have been training for with all the return to the 19th SOS and continue the
of their training in their specific weapon added elements of actual flights. The legacy of training excellence.
system or skill set. Classroom lecture and noise and motion introduce new variables The accomplishments of the men
discussion is augmented by computer that require significant crew coordination and women of the 19th SOS who are
based training and ultimately leads to full and situational awareness. Once they responsible for molding and supporting
mission simulator training scenarios built master basic missions they are thrown the next generation of Air Commandos
to test the fortitude of the crew and the into the fire feet first with advanced are nothing short of exceptional. Last
individual. They are taught by instructors tactical employment procedures that will year they trained, qualified, and upgraded
who collectively have flown missions in test their mettle to the limit. Flexibility over 5,200 Air Commandos. The demand
every major combat operation or conflict and adaptability are key elements that keeps growing and the squadron keeps
the US has participated in since Vietnam. each student must master until they are rising to the challenge. The task is
This cadre works in concert to produce finally weighed, measured, and evaluated daunting and the demand is high, but
tomorrow’s Air Commandos and the in their final check ride. If they pass they creating Air Commandos is our “no
skills and experiences they bring are will have earned the right be called an Air fail” mission. The professional men and
invaluable to the mission. Commando. women of the 19th SOS will continue to
Pushing the limits is what the The relationship between the 19th be the cornerstone of the Air Commando
simulator phase is designed to do. SOS and the men and women of AFSOC evolution.
Students are given real world scenarios is lasting. As they gain experience in
to create opportunities for the student to the operational squadrons, leadership
learn in a controlled environment where will identify those ready for upgrade.
the variables can be manipulated. After Co-pilots will upgrade to aircraft About the Author: Lt Col Chris Tharp is the
the simulator phase, students transition to commanders and special mission aviators commander of the 19th Special Operations
the flight line to experience the missions will become instructors. Some will even Squadron, Hurlburt Field, FL

The history of the 551st Special increased precision strike capabilities,
Operations Squadron dates back to the the MC-130W was modified and re-
early 1970’s when it was activated as the missioned to become a full-time gunship
1551st Combat Crew Training Squadron and renamed the AC-130W Stinger II.
at Hill AFB, UT. Their original task was This new version was first designed to
to train early Air Rescue crewmembers carry ten AGM-176 Griffin laser guided
to fly the HH-3 and HC-130 aircraft missiles, but a 30mm cannon was quickly
for operations in Vietnam. In the added. The aircraft was then modified
decades following, the mission evolved, again to carry up to eight GBU-39 small
technology and aircraft were upgraded, diameter bombs and a 105mm cannon.
and the squadron moved, but they always Each of these modifications adversely
held true to their dedication to training for impacted the training pipeline and the
special operations. operational unit, until AFSOC retired
On 25 Jul 2009 the 551st SOS the AC-130H and MQ-1 and relocated
guidon was unfurled at Cannon AFB the C-146 NSAv aircraft to Duke Field.
where it continues its proud legacy by This strategic fleet management enabled
training AC-130W and MQ-9 crews. The the 551st to focus solely on the MQ-9
551st also created the training program and AC-130W training pipelines and
for AFSOC’s “Non-Standard Aviation” to support continuation training for the
or NSAv fleet. These aircraft specialize remaining weapon systems at Cannon.
in worldwide low-signature special Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA)
operations mobility. The NSAv fleet has training in the 551st is the definition of
included the Pilatus PC-12, Bombardier maximizing finite resources. The students
Q-200, and the M-28 Skytruck. The most accomplish basic and initial qualification
recent addition to the fleet is the Dornier training in San Antonio and Holloman
328 which has been re-designated as the respectively, so when they arrive at
C-146A Wolfhound. Cannon the 551st focuses on the special
As the needs of the Air Force evolved, operations specific training they will
so has the 551st SOS. When combatant need to execute no-fail missions with
commanders identified a requirement for the highest levels of oversight. In true

Air Commando fashion, this training is profile simulators. These devices give to emergencies and damage without
conducted on the battlefield. After just crews more realistic practice in PGM risking injury to the crew or damage to
seven simulator rides the students begin delivery without captive-carry inert the aircraft. Simulators will continue
controlling live aircraft in the airspace munitions. The aircraft can even be to provide increased realism in what
over the battlefield. They collect real- programmed to provide simulated crews feel and see through improved
time intelligence and support numerous weapons malfunctions to present aerodynamic and visual modeling and
special operations units executing high the crews with realistic emergency will enhance community wide training
priority missions. They complete six of procedures training. We also use a full- by linking joint partners together in a
these “combat training” rides on combat motion flight-deck-only Weapon System virtual environment.
missions in various locations, all under Trainer (WST) for basic qualification The 551st SOS has trained over
the watchful eyes of 551st instructors. and pilot proficiency training. This 2,000 Air Commandos since 2009, and
This high intensity training ultimately technology provides a higher quality of will continue to adapt and overcome
prepares them to execute hostage rescue training at a lower overall cost, and more obstacles to meet the demand of special
missions, assist with capturing high value importantly, less stress on the airframe. operations air power. The instructors of
personnel, and safely directing troops The AC-130W requires complicated the 551st SOS stand ready to produce the
through enemy territory to forward crew resource management to effectively finest AFSOC crews who will be ready
operating locations. engage targets and protect ground forces. to accomplish any task and conquer any
The 551st incorporates advances in Over the next few years, the squadron challenge that may await them.
weapons simulation technology into the will receive a “back end” ATD training
daily training profiles for all crews. The device simulating the Mission Operator
primary example of this is the AC-130W Pallet, which will be linked to the flight
training program. This aircraft boasts deck WST and a future gun room. These
a vastly advanced array of daylight and advances will allow full crews to train About the Authors: This article was created
infrared sensors and state-of-the-art to combat proficiency in a simulated by the men and women of the 551st SOS
avionics and datalinks that provide high environment. This three-part simulator and was edited by: Lt Col Dave Sloat, AC-130
Instructor Combat Systems Operator and
definition situational awareness, all with will operate either as a single entity or as
551st SOS Assistant Director of Operations
a smaller crew. Live fire training has part of a Distributed Mission Operations (ADO); Maj Giles Evans, AC-130W Instructor
improved with moving target simulators, (DMO) system conducting virtual Pilot and 551st SOS ADO; and Capt Chad
and dry fire training has been augmented missions linked with other AFSOC assets. Warner, MQ-9 Evaluator Pilot and 551st
with on-board missile and bomb flight Mission simulation allows crews to react SOS Executive Officer.
551st SOS MQ-9 instructor provides combat training. (Photo courtesy of USAF)

C-145 crew walks to aircraft for training mission. (Photo courtesy of USAF)
Education
& Training
5th SOS
with the
The 5th Special Operations counterparts, the 19th SOS at Hurlburt

Squadron is an Air Force Reserve Field and helps alleviate the need for
component of AFSOC’s Total Force active duty instructors. They provide a
Initiative (TFI), training and educating great mixture of strengths, skills, and
aircrew for Air Force Special Operations experience that could not be found with
Command (AFSOC) and the Air Force active duty instructors alone. The TFI
Special Operations Air Warfare Center construct integrates the three major
(AFSOAWC). The mission of the 5th SOS contributors: civilian, active duty, and
is as varied as the aircraft it flies. Currently Reserve Component instructors to
the 5th SOS provides training support accomplish the aircrew training mission.
to the U-28A, C-145, C-146, AC-130U, Civilians are former military
MC-130H, and combat aviation advisor instructors who were previously qualified
programs. The squadron also deploys to in the weapon system they are now
provide intratheater airlift support with supporting. These civilian instructors
their active duty mission partners. provide the formal training unit (FTU)
The 5th SOS shares a Total Force continuity and help bridge the gap between
Association with their active duty the evolution of the weapon system and

the development of new tactics, techniques, and 5 SOS & 5 SOS Det 1
procedures (TTPs). The downside is that civilian AC-130U, MC-130H, C-145A,
contractors are unable support operations outside of
the training environment or to augment forces during C-146A & U-28A FTU
combat operations. This leaves them short of current u Responsible for providing 41 FTE positions
theater experience, a factor crucial to the future providing approx 35% of flight & simulator
development of the force. training for AFSOC
Active duty instructors are critical to the TFI
u Instructors augment the operational units’
training concept because they provide the relevant
current theater experience. Active duty instructors deployed operations on a volunteer basis
use their deployment and combat experiences to
develop key training areas and TTPs. However
this firsthand knowledge comes at a price. The
operational squadrons need to provide a replacement
for the deployed instructor in order to maintain the
flying training program at the FTU. If the operational
squadron is unable to backfill the deployed FTU
FTU Operations (last 12 months)
instructor, student training slows or sometimes u 2105 FTU sorties / 6344.8 hours
stops with direct impact on new aircrew arriving u Graduated 249 students – 5 MDSs
at the operational squadron. It is a classic case of a u Royal Jordanian AF C-145 Training at
“vicious circle.” Duke Field
Which brings us to the role AFRC plays and
the 5th SOS. The Reserve instructors are highly
experienced instructors who can provide relevant
combat experience during training and help fill in
the gaps when active duty instructors deploy. They Combat Operations (last 12 months)
allow high quality aircrew training to continue with u 701 Combat sorties / 2510.4 hours
minimal impact on the operational squadrons and the u 411 EKIA, 31 HVI, 140 vehicles destroyed
students. u 73 hostages rescued
Last year the 5th SOS flew almost all of the AC-
130U training sorties, a third of the U-28A training,
u Supported ENDURING FREEDOM, INHERENT
and about three quarters of the C-145 training. RESOLVE, FREEDOM SENTINEL, SOUTHCOM
They also began converting to the AC-130J along AOR, KEY RESOLVE/UFG 16
with their active duty counterparts. To ensure their
tactical proficiency, instructors from the 5th SOS
also supported operational squadrons during combat
deployments and exercises in the Pacific, Central
Command, and Afghanistan. 5 SOS Aircrew Experience
In 2016, the MC-130H FTU was moved
from Kirtland AFB to Hurlburt Field. Reservists Total:
augmented 19th SOS instructors as they transitioned Flight Hours.......................................... 191,433
the course from Air Education and Training Instructor Hours......................................40,086
Command to AFSOC. The MC-130H FTU stood up Evaluator Hours......................................... 3,272
in Nov 2016 with its first instructor class, followed NVG Hours................................................30,655
a month later by the first initial qualification class. Combat Hours..........................................43,245
Also in the summer of 2016, the 19th SOS absorbed Combat Sorties........................................11,762
the C-146 FTU from the 551st SOS at Cannon AFB.
The TFI concept has been largely successful
in the training and education mission, and the
Average:
5th SOS has been a critical mission partner in the Flight Hours............................................3,480.6
development of Air Commandos. Total Force Instructor Hours........................................818.1
integration enables AFSOC to retain a pool of highly Evaluator Hours........................................... 83.9
experienced people, while allowing them to balance NVG Hours.................................................. 745.2
military and civilian careers and ensuring the future Combat Hours............................................ 622.6
of AFSOC by helping to develop the next generation Combat Sorties.......................................... 213.9
of Air Commandos. Years of Service................................. 14.7 years

By MSgt Richard J. Smith II
The transformation from Airmen course (CAAMQC), and small unmanned

to Air Commando begins at the 371st aerial systems (SUAS) training for United
Special Operations Combat Training States Special Operations Command
Squadron (SOCTS) where we instill the (USSOCOM). Now seven years old and
Air Commando ethos. The 371st SOCTS on its fourth commander, the squadron
was activated in Aug 2010 to remove has grown to be one of AFSOC’s premier
the burden of formal training from the training entities, servicing 1200+ students
operational units. Initially, the 371st annually and instructing over 80% of
SOCTS conducted Special Tactics and AFSOC’s ground training.
combat aviation advisor (CAA) recruiting The 371st SOCTS trains geospatial
and assessment & screening, the combat intelligence analysts from all Services
aviation advisor mission qualification in full-motion video exploitation and

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With your special operations training, you’ve proven that you’ll

push yourself to the limit in defending what makes our country great.
Now, we’re inviting you to go beyond – to serve our nation’s interests
as a Paramilitary Operations Officer or Specialized Skills Officer with the
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globally using your significant combat and leadership experience in Special
Operations or Combat Arms (Infantry and Aviation).
Every company has a mission statement. Some are just more

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THE WORK OF A NATION. For additional information and to apply, visit:

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Applicants must have US citizenship and the ability to successfully complete medical examinations and security
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alongside special operators from the Army, Navy, and Marine
Corps.
The Combat Aviation Advisor Mission Qualification
Course (CAAMQC) is a four-phase, 12-18 month program to
master a specialized set of skills Airmen will need to help key
partners succeed. CAAs work in austere environments, often
isolated from “normal” US Air Force support. This course
helps new advisors master the techniques and procedures
related to foreign internal defense and counterinsurgency.
Particular emphasis is placed on survival skills, weapons
proficiency, communications, risk management, language, and
operational cultural application. The CAAMQC culminates
in a field training exercise where students are immersed in a
complex and realistic set of problems that challenge the future
CAAs to balance competing priorities, cultural norms, and
mission requirements. Once graduated, CAAs are capable of
conducting special operations activities by, with, and through
a partner nations’ forces, globally.
Turning Airmen into Air Commandos is an endeavor that
requires a holistic approach to training management, talent
development, and education. Together with United States Air
Force Special Operations School (USAFSOS) the two units
provide synchronized education and training to provide Air
intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) tactical Commandos the skills required to succeed across the spectrum
controllers to process, exploit, and disseminate ISR products
to fulfill mission requirements. The squadron also provides
Detachment 1, which serves as the joint formal training unit
for up to 500 SUAS operators per year at Choctaw Airfield on
the Eglin AFB range complex near Milton, FL.
The 371st SOCTS provides the AFSOC Security Forces’
Deployed Aircraft Ground Response Element (DAGRE)
training to prepare highly qualified Airmen for force protection
duties in the higher threat locations where special operations
Airmen are often deployed. DAGRE Air Commandos may
be tasked to support humanitarian relief and non-combatant
evacuation operations, or provide ground security elements
during special operations. The DAGRE pipeline is an eight-
week series of seven courses taught at Hurlburt Field twice each
year. Airmen hoping to attend one of the DAGRE qualification
classes must first complete a three-day assessment and
screening program emphasizing physical fitness, teamwork,
and mental toughness. If selected to attend the DAGRE
qualification course, the chosen Airmen will learn leadership,
fly-away security, combatives, and how to secure SOF
resources in complex environments. There are approximately
200 DAGRE qualified Airmen in the US Air Force.
The squadron executes the Air Commando field skills of special operations. 371st SOCTS accomplishes this by
course (ACFC), an intensive 15-day program of instruction focusing on four core functional areas: dynamic defensive
open to all AFSOC personnel, but prioritized for AFSOC driving, advanced weapons training, tactical combat casualty
aircrews. As a key element in AFSOC’s Air Commando care, and individual force protection techniques. The 371st
development (ACD) program, ACFC takes students out of the SOCTS will ensure that Air Commandos are ready for today,
typical air base environment to prepare them for austere and relevant tomorrow and resilient always!
high risk operating locations. Students are introduced to tactical
movement through urban terrain, advanced weapons handling
with pistols and rifles, tactical casualty care, and tactical About the Author: MSgt Richard J. Smith II is a combat aviation
driving skills. At the end of the training, Air Commandos have advisor (CAA) and Senior Enlisted Advisor for the 371st Special
many of the skills they need to credibly and efficiently operate Operations Combat Training Squadron, Hurlburt Field FL.

Combat Aviation Advisors conduct partner nation training at
Duke Field, FL on the C-145. (Photo courtesy of 19 SOS Det 1)
Partner Nation SOF

Aviation Schoolhouse
By Mr Mark Durkin and Maj Michael McGee Jr.
Air Force Special Operations Command is no stranger
to training foreign military personnel at home or abroad.
Dating back to the early 1960’s, Air Force special operators
have engaged with foreign aviation forces to bolster a
country’s domestic security and to advance US national
security interests. However, current fiscal constraints within
the DoD have resulted in fewer engagements in fewer
countries and have left planners at all levels searching for
solutions. If we can’t go to them, we’ll bring them to us.
Over the last three years interest in a permanent SOF
focused partner nation (PN) schoolhouse, located in the
continental US (CONUS), has grown within AFSOC and
across the Air Force staff in general. As a subordinate
organization to AF Special Operations Command (AFSOC),
AF Special Operations Air Warfare Center (AFSOAWC) is
responsible for training USAF Air Commandos. Partnered
with the 919th SOW (an Air Force Reserve wing at Duke
Field, FL) in a Total Force enterprise, AFSOAWC owns the
only two operational AFSOC units specifically designated,
trained, and equipped to engage with partner nation aviation
forces on their turf and in their specific aircraft. And despite
all of their successes there are not enough combat aviation
advisors (CAAs) to meet down-range engagement requests
Partner Nation maintenance personnel train at Duke Field, FL. and maintain Congressionally mandated “deploy to dwell”
(Photo courtesy of 592 SOMXS) ratios.

AFSOAWC planners began investigating the feasibility planners evaluated courses offered to partner nations through
of conducting CONUS-based training operations for C-145A the US Army’s John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and
flying and maintenance after receiving a formal request from School (USAJFKSWCS). These training schools underscored
AF Security Assistance Training (AFSAT) to support critical the value of conducting SOF-unique aviation training in our
US allies. SOCOM is no stranger to partner nation CONUS own backyard.
training. For example, the US Navy’s Naval Small Craft On the surface, CONUS-based engagements, especially in
Instruction and Technical Training School (NAVSCIATTS) a fiscally constrained environment, can be more cost effective
run by USSOCOM trains 400-500 partner nation for the DOD and provide better quality training in a safe
personnel annually and focuses on small craft operations, operating environment. Between Eglin AFB and Hurlburt Field,
communications, weapons, and instructor development. Next, a major benefit of CONUS-based training is the abundance of
training locations, ranges, airspace, and resources that can be
arranged in endless configurations to provide unique training
opportunities.
An additional advantage of training partner nations in
the US is the significant enhancement to follow-on overseas
engagements when working with the same partners who
received their initial training in the US. This distinct advantage
provides AFSOC a unique opportunity to train a partner nation
aviator to a common standard and develop long-lasting and
solid personal relationships with those crews and work with
the same personnel OCONUS to help integrate their new
capabilities.
The future concept of an AFSOAWC partner nation
“graduate-level” CONUS school would be to provide
advanced tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) in aircraft
for ISR operations, SOF Mobility (airdrop & NVG Ops),
and potentially armed reconnaissance / strike aircraft. The
conceptual schoolhouse would teach advanced TTPs that PN
students can apply to aircraft in their inventory and expose
them to simple aircraft that may be better suited to their country
in regards to cost, maintenance and mission execution.
Some of the benefits to PN training in CONUS:
• AFSOC Combat Aviation Advisors (CAAs) can train
PN while in “dwell” status
• Fully capitalize Air Force Reserve CAAs using the
Total Force Initiative (TFI) concept
• Access to safe, well maintained AFSOC-owned aircraft
• Graduate events (Airdrop/STOL/NVGs/ISR) conducted
in restricted/controlled airspace
• Students in scheduled structured courses with written
and flying evaluations
• Embassies familiar with sending PN students to
International Military Education Training (IMET) and
Military Articles and Services List (MASL) courses
• PN receive exposure to US culture and AFSOC military
personnel/standards
The first beta test of a CONUS-based SOF aviation
schoolhouse occurred in 2016 when 13 personnel from the
Royal Jordanian Air Force (RJAF) attended a 4 month course
at Duke Field, FL for C-145 flying and maintenance training.
The Irregular Warfare directorate of the AFSOAWC established
The Surrender Project is a 3-phase program that exists to the course in support of a Jordanian Foreign Military Sales
combat post traumatic stress and to provide hope and
case executed by Air Force Security Assistance Training, and
purpose to our nation’s warriors. To learn more about this
life-changing program visit www.TheSurrenderProject.com
approved through AFSOC and USSOCOM.
The students received basic qualification in the aircraft
Powered by and, after successful completion of their initial qualification,
www.TheSurrenderProject.com moved on to advanced TTP training. In a parallel effort to the

Royal Jordanian Air Force (RJAF) maintainers train with combat aviation advisors on the C-145. (Photo courtesy of 592 SOMXS)
offered flying training, eight RJAF maintenance personnel

attended four months of transition training to prepare them
for maintenance operations with the C-145. Students were
broken out into crew chief, engines, and avionics courses for
academics and hands-on training.
The cadre and responsibilities for the course execution were
split between AFSOAWC Irregular Warfare Plans, 19th SOS/
Det 1, 5 SOS/Det 1, 6th SOS, 711th SOS, and various support
agencies. Additional language and cultural advisory assistance
was provided by the AF Language Enabled Airman Program
(LEAP) and Military Accessions Vital to National Interest
(MAVNI) personnel assigned to the USAF Special Operations
School. During the execution phase the team worked together
to provide training, administrative, and medical support, as
well as social and cultural engagements. The initial course was
RJAF aircrew conduct mission planning before instructor
deemed to be a success. The RJAF students received world- upgrade flight in the Eglin range on the C-145. (Photo courtesy
class training and were given an up-close look at American of 19 SOS Det 1)
culture and government institutions.
Today, AFSOAWC has another foreign class on the
there are out-growth opportunities to conduct additional high
ground and training quota requests from three other countries
demand non-flying training such as expanded maintenance and
for the C-145. AFSOAWC’s aircraft portfolio will undoubtedly
tactical medical training.
generate interest in additional CONUS-based training options.
Some interest in CONUS-based training is to enhance
current relationships, to support regional security efforts and About the Authors: Mr. Mark Durkin is the Deputy Director for
organizations, and other requests are due to AFSOCs premier Irregular Warfare Plans, Air Force Special Operations Air Warfare
warfighting expertise. Center, Duke Field, FL. He served as an AFSOC combat aviation
The envisioned end state of an AFSOC/AFSOAWC PN advisor from 2002 - 14 and conducted foreign internal defense
operations with 15 partner nations.
schoolhouse is to connect AFSOC’s “Jungle Jim” heritage with
Maj Michael McGee Jr. is a plans officer for AFSOAWC’s Irregular
today’s Air Commandos. The design of the schoolhouse would Warfare Directorate and International Military Student Officer and
require single and twin engine platforms to execute courses for serves as the Commander, 919th Special Operations Security
US and PN students in light mobility (Airdrop, NVG), ISR, and Forces Squadron in the Reserves. He is a combat aviation advisor
potentially armed reconnaissance/light strike. While the main and primary planner for partner nation CONUS training operations
focus of the school would remain centered on flying training, at Duke Field, FL.

MH-53H Pave Low fast rope training with Special Tactics personnel
at a drop zone near Eglin AFB, FL. (Photo courtesy of USAF.)
Editor’s note: The original Pave Low was

an evolution of the HH-53 Night Recovery
System first deployed in 1968. The first Pave
Low flew in 1975 and nine Pave Lows were
originally assigned to the Aerospace Rescue
and Recovery Service. After the failed attempt
to rescue the American hostages from the
embassy in Tehran (Apr 1980), all HH-53s in
Rescue were eventually modified to Pave Low III
configuration and transferred to AFSOC.
By Pete Riley, SMSgt, USAF (Ret)
Pave Low… wow. It was finally happening. I had closure of the 41st was announced, and the first of us received
reassignment orders to the 20th Special Operations Squadron our orders early in 1987.
(SOS) located with its parent 1st Special Operations Wing We were very familiar with the 20th SOS as our mission
(SOW) at Hurlburt Field, FL, in hand and a report date of 31 at McClellan included Rescue Special Operations Low Level,
March 1987! As an HH-53 Instructor Flight Engineer (FE) and we had teamed with the 20th on a number of occasions
assigned to the 41st Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron for training exercises at various locations throughout the US.
at McClellan AFB, CA., I had been hearing a lot of chatter I had always been intrigued by the H-model Pave Low III and
about the plan to convert all USAF HH-53B/C and CH-53C its suite of sophisticated navigation and mission systems. In
aircraft to the HH-53H, Pave Low III configuration and assign Rescue, our “standard” HH-53B/Cs had a palletized Inertial
them to special operations. Now it was coming to fruition. The Navigation System and Doppler. But the seemingly cosmic

our arrival that we would very quickly be entered into
training in order to support the upcoming influx of FEs also
arriving from other H-53 units at Sembach Air Base, GE,
and Kirtland AFB, NM. This also meant that once we were
MH-53H qualified, we would be upgraded immediately to
Pave Low Instructor FEs. While we had all been trained at
one point or another through a formal school for the H-53
aircraft, there was currently, no formal HH-53H school. All
training was accomplished locally by the 1st SOW Central
Training Flight (CTF) using additional duty instructors
assigned from the 20th or the 1st SOW. Leonard and I would
be the first McClellan HH-53 Flight Engineers to become
HH-53H qualified.
The CTF was located a couple buildings down from
the 20th and housed a classroom, CAC mockup, and a
few other training items apparently scavenged from other
aircraft. I enjoyed the training, which was comprised mostly
of detailed lecture discussions using the aircraft technical
manuals, and grease pencil notes and diagrams on overhead
transparencies. MSgt Rick Dolby was one of the instructors
and did an awesome job getting Leonard and I up to speed on
the complex systems. Before long, we began the flying phase
and quickly became qualified HH-53H FE Instructors just
in time to accommodate the arriving crews from the other
squadrons. The 20th SOS was growing at a rapid pace, and
with further advanced model upgrades already in progress
it wouldn’t be long before the HH-53H model would be
obsolete and the CTF would begin training crews on the
more complex MH-53J systems. The 1st SOW CTF would
go on to provide that valuable training until a formal MH-
53J school was activated at Kirtland AFB, NM, with a new
J-Model simulator and updated courseware.
AFSOC training has come a long way since those early
days of training provided at the CTF. Level D simulators,
interactive desktop trainers, level 4 computer-based training,
virtual reality, and high fidelity electronic classrooms now
provide awesome training for our special operators. I cut
my training teeth in the basic H-53. I have been involved
in aircrew training for the past 34 years and have seen a lot
of training methodologies, procedures, philosophies, and
technologies come and go. While technology has made
training of complex systems and tactics more effective, I
can’t help but think of how valuable and effective my CTF
training was thanks to guys like Rick Dolby, Tim Thimmons,
Jim Eustace, Pappy Walters, and Jeff Walls, who used
Pave Low Central Avionics Computer (CAC), Projected Map experience, creativity, and low tech training methods to bring
Display, and terrain following radar provided a capability that next cadre of Pave Low warriors to the 20th SOS.
far beyond our Rescue birds. Couple that with early Global
Positioning System navigation suite, (not available to the
About the Author: Pete Riley, SMSgt (Ret) is a former Pave Low
civilian community at that time) and the Pave Low’s capability
Flight Engineer and ACA Board of Directors member. He holds
to mount .50 caliber weapons, and I knew I was getting ready a doctorate in Education and has been involved in the design,
to play with the big boys. I couldn’t wait to get to Hurlburt. development, and implementation of aircrew training since
Now I just had to be trained on this awesome aircraft! 1984. He is currently employed as the Director of Training
I was the first FE to arrive. TSgt Leonard Sullivan, also Product Solutions for Flight Safety Services Inc. in Centennial,
from the 41st, followed a day or two later. We knew upon Colorado.

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SEMINARS Hurlburt Field Gator Banquet Dinner at Emerald
Hurlburt Field Lakes Golf Course Coast Convention Center

By Lt Col Matt Doberman
DIVERSE MISSION
THE WORLD’S PREMIER TRAINING
ORGANIZATION, DRIVEN BY INNOVATION
TO PRODUCE EMPOWERED AIRMEN...
WARRIORS WHO WILL GO WHEN NO ONE
ELSE CAN OR NO ONE ELSE WILL.
A 58th SOW CV-22 flies through the wing’s New
Mexico training area. (Photo courtesy of 58 SOW)
The very nature of special operations is diversity. The success of special operations forces (SOF) depends on a
flexibility and versatility that is antithetical to single-mission competency. No organization better epitomizes the SOF
commitment to diversity of strength, personnel, and mission than the 58th Special Operations Wing at Kirtland AFB,
in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The 58th SOW’s multi-faceted nature is plain to see, characterized by the layered and interconnected mix of
organizations with a stake in the wing. Because the wing is a special operations organization, the 58th SOW typically
draws its senior leadership from AFSOC and the wing oversees graduate training in special operations aircraft like the
CV-22 and MC-130, along with elements of the AC-130 training pipeline. At the same time, the wing also produces
UH-1N aircrew for Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC), the Air Force District of Washington, and Pacific
Air Forces (PACAF). The 58th SOW trains HH-60 and HC-130 aircrew for Air Combat Command, PACAF and US
Air Forces Europe. And adding a joint flavor to the wing, the 58th SOW also runs Air Force undergraduate helicopter
training in the heart of Army aviation, at Ft Rucker, Alabama, and Air Force initial V-22 training at Marine Corps Air
Station New River, North Carolina.
That’s only the aviation side. The 58th SOW also oversees the Air Force’s Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and
Escape (SERE) training under the 336th Training Group, based at Fairchild AFB, Washington. The 336th, in turn,
commands training detachments at Eielson AFB, Alaska, and Lackland AFB, Texas.
If that were not enough, the 58th SOW accomplishes all this as a tenant on Kirtland AFB, itself recently part of
SINGULAR VISION
MC-130 trainer in Monster Garage (Photo courtesy of 58 SOW)
A 58th SOW HH-60 refuels from an MC-130. (Photo courtesy

of 58 SOW)
Hoist training at the USAF SERE school. (Photo courtesy of
58 SOW)
Students low crawl thru urban environment in SERE’s urban

evasion lab. (Photo courtesy of 58 SOW)
Air Force Materiel Command, now part of AFGSC. The 58th Simulated Reality, Real Training
SOW also maintains a robust Total Force Integration program The wing supplements these demanding flight
with the New Mexico Air National Guard’s 150th Special operations through the innovative use of technology, notably
Operations Wing. As wire-diagrams go, the 58th SOW’s the flight simulators assigned to the 58th Training Squadron
organizational chart uses a lot of ink. (TRS). While simulators have become commonplace in
But while the wing’s stake-holders and responsibilities are military and civilian training, the 58th SOW is a leader in
many, the wing remains devoted to a singular, SOF-influenced expanding the traditional boundaries of simulator-based
vision, “To be the world’s premier training organization, instruction, particularly for SOF and other tactical applications.
driven by innovation to produce empowered Airmen...warriors To appreciate the value of what the 58th TRS is doing
who will go when no one else can or no one else will.” with simulator-based training it is important to understand the
The 58th SOW’s philosophy and mission have never been variety of ways the TRS integrates these high quality training
more relevant. While Kirtland’s history as an advanced flying devices into training. Simulators can provide fairly realistic
training base dates back to World War II, the 21st century stand-ins for aircraft which are far more expensive to operate
engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan have amplified the and maintain. For aircraft like the CV-22 and MC-130 variants
wing’s value as a critical provider of mission ready aircrew which have relatively high sustainment costs per hour of
to meet real-world operational challenges. The 58th SOW’s operation, simulator flights represent significant cost savings.
training areas, literally its “back yard,” is one of the best And though the simulators are complex machines in their own
facsimiles for the austere high altitude environments found in right, with their own maintenance teams to keep them running,
Afghanistan and parts of Iraq. Visually, it is no accident that simulators typically are more dependable and are unaffected by
the Wing’s aircraft and flight line have featured in several weather. This reliability and availability provide consistency
recent movies set in Afghanistan. As the 58th’s instructors and stability to training programs.
and students will attest, the high altitude and desert conditions Simulators are, of course, not without limitations. Certain
create an uncommonly challenging flying environment with flight events are simply too closely tied to environmental,
stark similarities to recent deployment locations. mechanical, and human aspects to be perfectly modeled and

simulated. Hovering a helicopter is a good example of a flying stress the limits of performance, but maintaining a controlled
maneuver that is difficult to model in a simulator, even in a environment. An autorotation with 100 foot ceilings? Multiple
full-motion simulator (sometimes, particularly in full-motion engine fires following a missile engagement? Name the
simulators – airsickness in a simulator can be anything but situation and the simulator operators can likely provide it. “Our
simulated). Hovering is a “feel” event that is hard to replicate. pilot syllabus has 107 hours of Sim and 41.5 of aircraft” said
Many events, however, can be replicated extremely well Maj Jason Hock, Director of Operations for the 71st SOS, the
in simulators and part-task-trainers. For special operations and CV-22 training squadron. “Simulators are absolutely critical
combat search and rescue (CSAR) aircraft, a variety of moderate to our success. We can put students in realistic scenarios with
to high-risk activities can be safely and effectively taught and emergencies and complex night missions on NVGs, and let
practiced in the simulators. This gives students the opportunity them explore the aircraft’s capabilities without putting them in
to practice multiple repetitions of these maneuvers at a high actual danger.”
level of fidelity they could not practically, consistently, or It is easy to see how simulators can be much more than a
safely accomplish in the aircraft. For example, CV-22 terrain- simple cost-effective replacement for actual flight. In the hands
following/terrain avoidance (TF/TA) radar flight can be flown of the 58th SOW a simulator is an essential part of graduate-
simulating dense terrain conditions that provide a cockpit level flight training that supplements and expands aircraft-
experience very close to the real thing. Likewise, MC-130 based training sorties.
sorties can be flown in environmental
and geographic conditions, for
example mountainous flight with
low power margins, that would be
difficult or contrary to regulations to
accomplish using the actual aircraft.
Indeed, some high-risk mission
events can be trained for more
realistically in the simulator than in
the aircraft, where safety measures
and regulatory limits may prohibit
how realistic actual flying can be.
A simple example is the weather
limitations for training events. Crews
generally cannot fly in instrument
meteorological conditions close to the
ground, but that kind of all-weather
terrain navigation and airspace
penetration is a fundamental part
of the special operations and rescue
mission-set. Simulated flight can be
flown in weather that would not be Interior of MC-130 training device in the Monster Garage. (Photo courtesy of 58 SOW.)
acceptable for training or peacetime
operations, but might be within
acceptable risk limits for a real-world
mission. A simulator, in other words, can ensure that the first No discussion of innovation in the 58th SOW would
time a crew “sees” high-risk environmental conditions is not in be complete without mentioning another crown jewel in the
an operational environment. 58th TRS’s training array – the Monster Garage, recently
Similarly, threat mitigation in the simulator can be called “AFSOC’s Secret Training Weapon” by Defense News.
accomplished to a degree of realism impossible in the aircraft. Situated around the corner from the 58th SOW headquarters,
Simulators can accurately correlate modelled threats and threat the Monster Garage is a former Second World War B-24 hangar,
indications with corresponding countermeasures, allowing now filled with functioning, hands-on training equipment,
students to take actions to defeat realistic threats that are not much of it specially modified by the TRS’s own fabrication
available or possible during live fly training missions. experts.
Along the same lines, emergency procedures training in The ingenuity at work in the Monster Garage, as with the
the simulator can reproduce conditions difficult or impossible TRS’s simulators, saves money (tens of millions a year) and
to fully duplicate in an actual aircraft. And as students know, provides repetitions on essential mission events and training
simulator operators (both active duty and civilian, most of time in a controlled environment. In the Monster Garage,
whom are retired SOF and CSAR aviators themselves) are loadmaster students can practice loading an actual Humvee in
not shy about combining environmental, emergency, and the back of an actual MC-130 fuselage (once destined for the
mission-related threats into a nightmarish cocktail designed to Boneyard), while at the same time helicopter special mission

aviators can operate a personnel recovery hoist mounted
on a real helicopter fuselage, itself mounted on specially-
built platform.
Like the nearby simulators, the equipment in the
Monster Garage can be scheduled independent of weather,
at times outside established flying windows, and without
adding demands for aircraft generation.
Meanwhile, the 58th TRS is continuing to lean
forward with cutting edge innovation. The next frontier
might be virtual-reality (VR) training, with testing in the
works on CV-22 VR training systems using commercial,
off-the shelf technology modified, of course, by the TRS’
Shallow Water Egress Training (Photo courtesy of 58 SOW) experts.
Preparing Airmen for the Worst

The 58th SOW’s diversity of mission extends
beyond flying training at Kirtland AFB. The 58th SOW is
also the parent organization to the 336th Training Group
(TRG), near Spokane, Washington. While the average
Air Force flyer may not know the Group’s numerical
designation or chain of command, they are definitely
familiar with it. Airmen who take to the skies follow
many different paths to many different airframes and job
specialties, but all those paths converge at the USAF’s
Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape school. As a
requirement for operational qualification, combat survival
training is a legendary right-of-passage, but it is also a
A student learns to find his position (Photo courtesy of 58 SOW)
carefully orchestrated, immersive training experience
made possible by a team of dedicated professionals.
SERE specialists are experts in everything their
acronym stands for. The Air Force, with its extensive
and sometimes tragic history of isolated and captured
personnel, is the only Service that has recognized SERE
training and operations specialists with their own specialty
code.
Before someone may instruct SERE, candidates
go through a rigorous selection and training program at
the 336th TRG. SERE is an AFSC that is hard to man
because of the physical and mental demands placed on
the candidates, compounded with force-wide recruiting
limitations, but it is also a career that is hard to pry people
Life raft training at Fairchild (Photo courtesy of 58 SOW) away from. SERE is not for everyone, but for those who
earn the sage beret, it is a unique and satisfying calling.
“The Air Force has been practicing the SERE mission
for a long time,” said 336th TRG commander, Col
Marshall Groves, “and has developed a resilient, mature
capability with a proud lineage of superbly trained, well-
organized, professional Airmen.” This heritage is a large
part of why the SERE instruction is a natural fit within
the 58th SOW. In fact, the 58th SOW as an organization
is a good metaphor for SERE as a career field – not part
of AFSOC itself, but with many features that make it a
logical fit with special operations, yet inherently part of
Air Education and Training Command. SERE specialists
are part of the triad of Air Force specialties that fall
SERE students in the field (Photo courtesy of 58 SOW) under the Guardian Angel weapon system, along with
pararescuemen (PJs) and combat rescue officers (CROs).

Together, these three AFSCs are responsible for the full to survive, from building thermally-sound structures out of
spectrum of personnel recovery. The PJ and CRO career fields snow and any available material, to finding water sources
have significant representation throughout AFSOC and ACC. when everything around them is frozen. But the school also
ACC manages the Air Force’s operational CSAR assets: HH- addresses the acute mental challenges of finding yourself alone
60 helicopters, HC-130 airplanes, and the Guardian Angels. with snow in every direction. As with other SERE courses, the
All of these PR assets have their schoolhouses aligned under arctic survival school teaches that survival is more than just
AETC and the 58th SOW. a matter of physical toughness, and that mental and physical
Once again, the connection between the 58th SOW skills go together. The instructors teach the skills to survive,
and the SOF, SERE and CSAR communities becomes clear which in turn gives the students confidence that they can
once the diversity of 58th SOW training and its downstream succeed in a harsh natural environment, thus empowering the
customers is understood. And like the other branches of the individuals’ will to survive if or when they find themselves in
58th SOW, the 336th TRG has also innovated and modernized. such a position.
Just as experiences from the Vietnam War heavily influenced
changes in SERE training in decades past, so have experiences
from 21st century conflicts motivated changes to increase the
relevance of SERE training for present and future Airmen.
Through careful study of real-world events, both those pulled
from the headlines and those less-well known, the Air Force’s
SERE experts have gone beyond traditional scenarios based on
major combat operations between nations. SERE specialists
now offer basic and advanced training that encompasses
capture by non-governmental elements and non-traditional
detention scenarios.
Another example of this innovative approach is the
development of the Evasion and Conduct After Capture
(ECAC) courses of instruction, with a dedicated facility at
Lackland AFB, TX. Operated as a detachment of the 336th
TRG’s 66th Training Squadron, the courses met the 21st
century demands of an Air Force that increasingly found
Flames elevate around SSgt Seth Reab as he adds wood to
regular Airmen “outside the wire” and at elevated risk of
his small spilt-wood fire created during arctic survival training.
isolation and capture, including Airmen working to develop (Photo by SSgt Vernon Young Jr.)
civilian infrastructure and those serving “in-lieu of” taskings
with the Army. Assigned to positions outside of the typical Air
Force structure, these Airmen did not have dedicated Air Force
training to prepare them for the demands of their missions. The Conclusion
ECAC program filled that critical pre-deployment need. On their way to becoming fully qualified professionals,
When it comes to preparing Airmen for the worst, it only all Air Force aircrew members pass through the doors of the
makes sense that the 336th TRG’s training environments reflect 58th SOW, if not for flight training – like nearly all AFSOC
the diversity of possible scenarios. “The Pacific Northwest and CSAR personnel – then for SERE. With more than
provides a unique training environment, offering desert, forest, 20,000 students trained every year, including aircrew from 32
jungle, and coastal environments for realistic training all different crew positions following nearly 120 different training
within a relatively compact area,” said Groves. “A patchwork courses, it is no surprise that there is not one specific mission
of agreements and relationships with local governments, the that defines the 58th Special Operations Wing.
US Forest Service, Native American tribes, and landowners Rather, like all special operations, the 58th SOW is defined
enables us to continue training through 4 seasons and 48 weeks by its flexibility and diversity, accomplishing high quality and
a year.” relevant training that would be impossible without constant
In addition to its detachment at Lackland AFB, the 66th innovation.
TRS also has a detachment at Eielson AFB, Alaska. This is “Airpower is Airmen’s power,” said Col Brenda P. Cartier,
the Air Force’s Arctic Survival School. Most graduates of the commander of the 58th SOW. “We are driven by an ethos
their five-day course are flyers assigned to cold-weather bases. of warriors training warriors. Our charge is to instruct, inspire,
The “Cool School,” as Airmen magazine recently dubbed it, imagine, and innovate in order to develop and graduate Airmen
routinely hosts students from other government agencies that who are prepared, on Day One, to accomplish those missions
also operate in unforgiving Arctic conditions, such as the that no one else can or no one else will.”
US Coast Guard and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration. About the Author: Lt Col Matt Doberman is a former MH-53 pilot
The Arctic survival course focuses on the core skills that and combat aviation advisor. He’s currently instructing in the UH-
Airmen who are isolated in cold-weather environments need 1N at the 58 Special Operations Wing.

Airpower Classics Illustration by Ugo Crisponi, aviationgraphic.com
Illustration by Ugo Crisponi, aviationgraphic.com
V-22 Osprey
The V-22 Osprey “tilt-rotor” is a unique multimis- it to operate at low altitude, at night, in poor This aircraft: USAF CV-22 Osprey—#11-0057,
sion aircraft capable of vertical and short takeoff weather, and in high-threat areas. It has been Knife 75—as it appeared in 2015 when assigned to
and landing. Typically, it takes off and lands like used operationally for long-range infiltration, the Air Force’s 7th Special Operations Squadron,
a helicopter. However, when airborne, its engine exfiltration, and resupply missions for SOF of RAF Mildenhall, UK.
nacelles and 38-foot, three-bladed proprotors can all services.
rotate forward 90 degrees for horizontal flight,
converting the Bell Boeing aircraft into a more The V-22’s extreme technical complexities pro-
USAF photo by SSgt. Markus Maier

fuel-efficient, higher-speed turboprop aircraft. duced a long, costly, and difficult development
period—consuming 25 years, $22 billion, and
The US Marine Corps was the lead service in 30 lives in crashes. In the early 1990s, Defense
development of the Osprey and has acquired the Secretary Richard Cheney tried, without success,
largest number. The USMC variant, the MV-22, to kill it. In the 2000s, crashes caused by “vortex
serves as an assault transport for troops, equip- ring state” lift problems forced a grounding and
ment, and supplies and can operate equally significant redesign. Since its operational debut in
well from ships at sea or expeditionary airfields 2007, Marine and USAF Ospreys have performed
ashore. The Air Force variant, the CV-22, is well in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Kuwait, and in
used by Special Operations Command for long- various African locales. USMC has about 240 in
range insert and extraction. CV-22 is equipped inventory, the Air Force about 50.
with extra fuel tanks and integrated threat —Robert S. Dudney with Walter J. Boyne
countermeasures, as well as terrain-following
radar and advanced avionic systems that allow
USAF Ospreys take off from Kirtland
AFB, N.M., on a training mission.
In Brief USMC Notable: Michael Murphy (former presi-

Designed, built by Bell Helicopter and Boeing dential helicopter pilot, killed in 2000 test crash).
first flight March 19, 1989 (helo mode) and Test Pilots: Thomas Macdonald (Kincheloe
Sept. 14, 1989 (fixed wing mode) function, Award 2003); John Rudzis, William Wainwright,
assault and SOF transport number built ap- Thomas Currie, William Witzig, Kevin Gross,
prox 400 crew four (pilot, copilot, two flight Chris Seymour, Michael Healy, William Leonard,
engineers) two Rolls-Royce Allison T406/ James Lindsey, William Norton, Steven Grohs-
AE1107C turboshaft engines max speed 351 meyer, Martin Shubert (Feinberg Award 1999).
mph cruise speed 277 mph rotor diameter
38 ft length 57 ft 4 in wing span 45 ft 10 in Interesting Facts
height 22 ft 1 in width (rotor edge to rotor Deemed the world’s first production “tilt-rotor”
edge) 84 ft 7 in. Specific to CV-22B: armament, aircraft carried body of Osama bin Laden
one .50 cal-M2 Browning machine gun max from Pakistan to USS Carl Vinson for burial at
payload 10,000 lb troop capacity 24 seated or sea spurred into development by 1980 Iran
32 floor-loaded max range 1,011 mi com- hostage rescue fiasco suffered seven hull-
bat radius (with aux tank) 575 mi weight (max loss accidents won Robert J. Collier Trophy
T/O) 60,500 lb service ceiling 25,000 ft. in 1990 opposed, at first, by DOD leaders,
but backed by Congress has performed
Famous Fliers rolling landings and takeoffs on carrier used
Mackay Trophy 2012: USAF Rooster 73 Flight— by presidential candidate Barack Obama in
Ryan Mittelstet, Brett Cassidy, David Shea, 2008 tour of Iraq featured in 2007 and 2011
Christopher Nin, William Mendel, Arjun Rau, “Transformers” movies able to fold rotors for
James McKay, Kenneth Zupkow, Taylor Fingar- storage in 90 seconds can transition from
son, Daniel Denney, Alberto Delgado, Jeremy forward flight to 50-foot hover with no pilot
Hoye. Distinguished Flying Cross: David Haake interaction requires use of oxygen masks
(USMC), Michael Hutchings (USMC). Other above 10,000 feet. Illustration by Zaur Eylanbekov
80 AIR FORCE Magazine / April 2016

Reprinted by permission from Air Force Magazine, published by the Air Force Association.
Additional Airpower Classics may be found at https://secure.afa.org/joinafa/bookorder.aspx.

Special Tactics Training Squadron students swim the length of
the pool with their hands and feet bound during a pre-SCUBA
class at Hurlburt Field, FL. (USAF photo by SrA Ryan Conroy)

Special Tactics Training Squadron Airmen rappel
from a UH-60 BlackHawk helicopter at Hurlburt
Field, FL. (USAF photo by TSgt Jason Robertson)
Last month, a military Service-wide review of medals His heroism did not end at the compound; with the armor of
awarded since 9/11 determined that SSgt Christopher Baradat’s his vehicle interfering with communications, he stood on the
actions in 2013 were deserving of the Air Force Cross. Anyone running boards during the exit through a narrow canyon to
familiar with the combat controller’s (CCT) actions four years continue directing aircraft covering fire. His decisive actions
ago will understand why his acts of extraordinary heroism helped save the lives of 150 US and coalition soldiers while
under fire warrant the military’s second highest combat eliminating many enemy soldiers and 13 fighting positions.
decoration. While attached to an Army Special Forces team Baradat’s actions, and those of so many of his brothers in
sent to rescue coalition forces pinned down by enemy fighters in arms, exemplify why Special Tactics (ST) is the most highly
Kunar Province, Afghanistan, his unit was decisively engaged. decorated community in the Air Force since the end of the
As the team’s primary air-to-ground integrator, Baradat was Vietnam War. If heroism can be measured by its operators
able to call in and precisely direct close air support from A 10 earning 9 Air Force Crosses, 34 Silver Stars, 650 Bronze Stars,
Thunderbolt IIs and circling AC-130 gunships. By engaging hundreds of Bronze Stars with valor, and more than 140 Purple
the enemy threat less than 1,000 meters from their position, his Hearts since 9/11, then ST’s success is best gauged by the
team was able to move to cover in a small compound closer to endless calls to support SEALs, Special Forces, and Rangers
the pinned down troops. Outnumbered and outgunned, with across the globe every day. Today, CCTs, special tactics
the thick walls of the protective cover interfering with his radio officers (STOs), pararescuemen (PJs), tactical air control
signals, Baradat knew his team would soon be surrounded and parties (TACPs), and special operations weather technicians
left the shelter of the compound to communicate directly with (SOWTs) of the 24th Special Operations Wing (24 SOW) are
their support aircraft. With disregard for his own safety and capable of solving combined air and ground problems across
yells from his teammates to take cover, Baradat stood in the all spectrums of conflict and crisis. Able to operate in support
open courtyard for two hours to direct continuous bomb drops of joint partners as well as organically in special tactics teams,
and gun runs against an entrenched enemy. With the enemy the 24th SOW provides airfield reconnaissance, assessment,
temporarily subdued, his team and the force they were sent and control while expertly delivering crucial capabilities in
to rescue gained the opportunity to rendezvous and withdraw. personnel recovery, joint terminal attack control, environmental

reconnaissance, and now battlefield surgery. The ability to Candidates would graduate Indoc and head directly to Special
simultaneously train troops in such a diverse array of critical Forces SCUBA School, also considered one of the toughest
skills while maintaining elite proficiencies in everything from schools in the Green Beret pipeline, where more students
military freefall to combat diving and ground maneuver combat would quickly wash out. Those who graduated would then
is a hallmark of ST. These are not capabilities that are easy to complete Air Traffic Control, Airborne, Military Freefall, and
earn or maintain, but they are made possible by a little known USAF Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape (SERE)
squadron at Hurlburt Field, Fla., known as the Special Tactics schools before heading to Combat Control School where
Training Squadron (STTS). As Baradat observed after the they finally learned their core skills. CCTs who successfully
battle, “You never know what to expect going into any combat navigated these challenges would then check in at one of three
situation, but I do feel that the intense and diverse training that active stateside STSs.
I received from… the Special Tactics community set me up to These units were not only responsible for maintaining
handle the stress of the situation.” currency of mature troops and fulfilling operational demands,
Heroes are born, not made, and there is no training but also had to conduct all advanced training for their next
program in the world that can truthfully claim that it creates generations of warriors. This framework produced capable
heroes. However, as Baradat alludes, training can be credited and effective CCTs, but it also drained resources from
for equipping Airmen with the tools to act decisively and operationally-saturated units and created inconsistent baseline
effectively when such situations develop. It is for this purpose training and operational capabilities that varied from unit to
that the 720th Special Tactics Group created the STTS at unit. With demands on the STSs and the need for mission-
Hurlburt Field. The mission of the unit is to supply and ready operators growing rapidly, AFSOC took the first step
sustain Special Tactics Squadrons (STSs) with
worldwide combat power through the expert and
professional training, mentoring, and production
of special operations warriors. These warriors
regularly perform complex and dangerous
training in military freefall parachuting, rotary-
wing infiltration/exfiltration, live-fire field
exercises, underwater navigation, fast rope/
rappel, advanced weapons skills, AC-130/rotary
wing call for fire (CFF), long range command and
control, and vehicle-borne operations. In addition
to training Air Force operators, the STTS also
manages the Special Operations Terminal Attack
Controller Course (SOTACC) in Yuma, AZ,
where seasoned veterans from all Services are
sent to learn effective implementation of close air
support (CAS). Today, the STTS completes the IFAM Cadre posing with one of the first graduating classes of the new ST IFAM
advanced upgrade training of Air Force Special program. Standing far left Mr. Ronald Childress (IFAM Director of Training),
Operations Command’s (AFSOC) PJs, TACPs, kneeling front row left TSgt Dirk Wenrich (PJ), and standing far right MSgt
Bart Decker (CCT). (Courtesy Photo)
SOWTs, and is the home station for CCT and
STO apprentices during the second half of their
two-year pipeline.
However, the STTS itself is only the most recent in streamlining the ST training pipeline. In 1997, AFSOC
construct of a decades-long development process. In fact, consolidated the disparate STSs’ internal training programs
before 1997, there was not even a consolidated location or under a newly-conceived ST Initial Familiarization Course
universal curriculum for CCTs once they graduated their (IFAM) to be centralized at Hurlburt Field under the 720th
apprentice course. Graduates of Combat Control School left Special Tactics Group.
that qualifying course with their coveted scarlet berets and This February marks the 20th anniversary of IFAM’s
apprentice-level skills in communications, demolitions, land inception, but when the program began, it existed as nothing
navigation, tactics, and assault zones survey and control. more than a meager assemblage of trailers in the back of the
They then checked in directly to their operational STSs and 23rd STS at Hurlburt. Despite its humble beginnings, a staff
only received full-mission qualification as time and resources of only three military and civilian instructors capitalized on
allowed. Those operators’ pipeline began at Lackland AFB, decades of personal and operational experience to construct a
TX, with an indoctrination program serving both PJ and CCT six-week training program that would standardize at least some
candidates. “Indoc,” as the Indoctrination Course was known, of the core skills training of apprentice CCTs before pushing
consisted of a 12-week program of grueling underwater them out to their units. Those core skills focused on airfield
confidence training, long-distance finning, running, and reconnaissance, austere landing zone establishment, assault
calisthenics with an attrition rate of nearly 80 percent. zone control, parachuting, land navigation and shooting.

Approximately 150 Special Tactics Airmen perform “memorial pushups” during a ceremony to remember four fallen Hurlburt Airmen
at the STTS on May 23, 2016. Maj William Downs, a pilot with the 6th Special Operations Squadron; Capt Jeremy Fresques, a Special
Tactics Officer with the 23rd Special Tactics Squadron; Capt Derek Argel, a STO with the 23rd STS and SSgt Casey Crate, a combat
controller with the 23rd STS were killed May 30, 2005, in a crash of an Iraqi air force aircraft during a training mission in the eastern
Diyala provice. (USAF photo by SrA Ryan Conroy)
Between 1997 and 2000, these few instructors put 238 CCTs that prepared candidates for the rigors of special operations
through IFAM, but it did not solve the backlog at the STSs that schools, rather than front-loading them for students fresh from
still found difficulty fulfilling the remaining 40% of upgrade basic training. More significantly, the program also absorbed
requirements for the apprentice operators they received. all responsibility for the upgrade training of apprentice
Unfortunately, it still took too long to produce combat-ready operators--this would not only make combat control’s training
operators. Both IFAM and its predecessor required 15 months more consistent and efficient, it would also allow the STSs to
of ‘in-residence’ training at various schools, six months of focus entirely on their operational duties.
standby status waiting on those school slots, and another 12- That same year, AFSOC and Air Education and Training
18 months of upgrade training at an active STS to become Command (AETC) decided the personnel shortage merited
mission ready. The first true personnel crisis struck in 1999 a drastic change: AST would be implemented almost
when the manning at several squadrons fell to 40 percent immediately. Rather than completing just six weeks of IFAM,
and the established pipeline produced only seven CCTs for ST would place graduates of Combat Control School into
each squadron in the entire year. With demands on the STSs a 12-month program that would accomplish combat diver
growing, a three-year pipeline that could produce so few school, military freefall school, advanced courses in satellite/
operators per year was unsustainable. If left unchanged, ST’s radio communication, airfield surveys, reconnaissance and
own training pipeline was its greatest existential threat. surveillance, tactical-vehicle operations, airfield seizure, and
By early 2000, ST leadership recognized that the a host of other skills. In order to better prepare candidates for
manpower problem was the result of three fundamental issues: the more grueling training that awaited them, initial candidates
1) attrition rates that approached 90 percent in the first quarter would no longer attend Indoc. Instead, they completed a two-
of the pipeline, 2) a three-year training timeline from Indoc week selection course, Airborne, SERE, Air Traffic Control
to full mission qualification, and 3) unpredictable output of School, and CCS. This ‘building-block’ approach gave
operational CCTs and inconsistent skills training between students a more robust academic and physical baseline before
STSs. Advanced Skills Training (AST) was the ultimate encountering advanced training. The hope was to reduce the
product of deliberations on these issues. The new program attrition rate without compromising the competence of the
sought to fundamentally reorganize the pipeline in a way force --and the model proved to be an instant success. Within

two years, the pipeline was producing several dozen fully- One in 1981, parachuted into Grenada in 1983, saved the lives
trained operators a year and had already become home to 102 of wounded Rangers in Mogadishu in 1993, established the
CCT and PJ trainees in various phases of their advanced work- first landing zones after the Haiti and Fukushima disasters,
up. Those students were also performing more competently at and commit daily acts of heroism in Operations Freedom’s
advanced Special Operations Forces courses: in the five years Sentinel and Inherent Resolve all experienced very different
leading up to AST, not a single ST operator had received the training pipelines. By focusing on doing the basics well and
Honor Graduate title at combat dive school. By 2004, 22 had encouraging continuous growth, modern ST training will
earned this distinction. continue to produce operators that honor the legacies and
AST served as an incredible proof of concept, but it too
was just another step towards the development of ST’s greater
goal of a consolidated and self-supported training squadron.
Although the classroom trailers and shared resources of the 23rd
STS served their purpose for AST, the number of instructors,
growing sizes of student classes and increasing complexity of
training tasks warranted a comparable investment in facilities.
Construction of an autonomous training complex in the
northwest corner of Hurlburt Field began in the winter of 2004.
The complex would boast a large building with student and
staff team rooms, administrative offices, multiple classrooms,
an aquatic facility, and a combination indoor/outdoor workout
space. The first class moved into AST’s new home in 2008.
In less than a year, AST would finally reach the tipping point
in manning, physical infrastructure, and expertise to become
an active squadron within the 24 SOW: the Special Tactics
Training Squadron was born.
Today, the STTS conducts more than 1,400 military
dives per year, more than the rest of AFSOC combined. It SSgt Christopher Baradat, a combat controller, was
also boasts AFSOC’s most active military freefall program, presented the Air Force Cross for saving 150 coalition
controlling 1,500 jumps a year. The squadron maintains a fleet members on an April, 2013 deployment to Afghanistan.
Baradat precisely directed thirteen 500-pound bombs and
of 131 standard vehicles, tactical vehicles, and watercraft, as 1,100 rounds of ammunition in three hours of intense
well as $700,000 of advanced communications equipment. fighting. (Courtesy Photo)
Its weapons support section maintains 1,065 US Special
Operations Command-tracked armaments and attachments
while training 150 students a year on 11 different weapon
systems and managing Hurlburt Field’s busiest munitions capabilities on which this community was built and this nation
account, processing 1.83 million rounds a year. In 2016, the deserves. This is the common thread that unifies Special
STTS graduated 65 5-level CCTs, 9 Special Tactics Officers, Tactics’ future with its past. As the current STTS Commander,
9 SOWTs, 16 ST PJs, and 10 ST TACPs-- all who were sent can proudly attest, “Special Tactics training has evolved in
directly to operational line units, and some were downrange an extraordinary way. Today, we are at the tip of the spear
within a matter of months developing our next generations of leaders and operators.
Despite the drastic changes to its training pipeline in These elite war fighters are instrumental in the fight against
the last few decades, the modifications have been more tyranny and will continue to make an atomic impact against
quantitative than qualitative: the caliber of ST operators has the enemy.”
remained remarkably consistent. As one of the founders and
original instructors of the 1997 IFAM program, MSgt. (ret.)
Ronald Childress, remarked, “Within 28 days of the attacks About the Author: Lt Col F. Damon. Friedman is the Commander
on 9/11 we had Combat Controllers crossing the mountains of the Special Tactics Training Squadron, 24th Special Operations
into Afghanistan and coordinating airstrikes on the enemy… Wing, Air Force Special Operations Command, Hurlburt Field, FL.
the capability to perform that type of mission was not the As the STTS commander, his unit trains special tactic forces for
result of a 28-day train up.” Mr. Childress could not be rapid global employment to enable airpower success any place
more correct--the proficiency of ST training has not been across the spectrum of conflict in support of the joint force
derived from reactive changes in response to the threats of commander’s objectives.
any moment in time. Instead, instruction has always been
The authors would like to offer special thanks to those who provided
based on reinforcing core skills while teaching students to information and feedback making this article possible, notably
be air-minded, flexible, and capable of applying battle-tested amongst them the STTS’s current historian and first Director of
capabilities to novel situations. One would be remiss to forget Training for both IFAM and AST: MSgt (Ret) Ronald Childress as
that the ST operators who assessed the landing zone for Desert well as the first Commander of AST: Lt Col (Ret) Christopher Larkin.

The Case for
COIN Studies
By Maj Ryan Olish
The United States Air Force has been on a war footing insurgent from the population,” isolation that is maintained
for 26 years since the opening of Operation Desert Shield. by the population itself. The initial isolation is gained by
Our Airmen have been deploying and flying operationally an army that relies on a force acting as soldiers one minute,
so long that for many of us, it is all we have known while and as engineers, teachers or bureaucrats the next. Galula
in uniform. Even as the rise of China and Russia signals a acknowledges that counterinsurgency is a political problem,
near-peer future threat, it is important that we as professionals with all else subordinated to maintaining the survival of the
know the details of our fights in Afghanistan and Africa; that political regime. With these concepts, he essentially advocates
is, counterinsurgency (COIN) operations. This is not to say for the “whole of government” approach to COIN. However,
that the US should not have a robust conventional air-to-air though he sees the need for a multi-pronged approach, Galula
force. But by examining the theory behind COIN operations, a does not address aviation in a substantive manner, describing
contemporary history of this warfare, and how we as airpower what type of aircraft a leader should want in “his” air force.
proponents can make COIN operations better, we can see why Unfortunately, Galula is not the only COIN theorist to pay
it is imperative that AFSOC Airmen in particular are well little mind to air power.
versed in COIN theory and strategy. Galula was not the only professional from the Algerian
One of the most well-known COIN theorists of the War to carefully examine that conflict. Another great theorist
20th Century is David Galula, author of Counterinsurgency of COIN is Roger Trinquier, also a French military officer.
Warfare: Theory and Practice, his 1964 thesis at Harvard He wrote of his experiences in the Algerian War in Modern
University. This largely experiential work covers his time War. He advocated for an all-inclusive approach to COIN,
fighting in France’s Algerian War, where he put into practice stating that warfare itself is now an “an interlocking system
theories he developed while observing the French civil-military of actions—political, economic, psychological, military.” This
effort in Indochina, as well as Mao Zedong’s insurgency and is in essence an interagency, whole of government, approach.
conventional fight in China. He lays out a systematic method The diplomatic, informational, military, and economic
of thinking about the insurgent and how to fight him, much model (DIME) works well in the COIN environment, as the
of which was incorporated into 2006 US Army Field Manual populace is the DIME objective as theorized by both Galula
3-24, Counterinsurgency. Galula then argues against this and Trinquier. To acknowledge that the populace is the center
systematic approach with what he views is required to form of gravity is to state that the survival of the political regime
a successful insurgency, with the type of government that is cannot be solely a military solution.
ripe to be toppled, and how to go about it. His theory defines Trinquier offers three main principles of COIN. They are
counterinsurgent success as a “permanent isolation of the to separate the populace from the guerrillas, occupy those

zones formerly under guerrilla control, and then
deny the guerrilla access to any support. Two of his
principles articulate how to isolate the guerrillas from
THE VALUE OF
the populace in order to deny the insurgents their
base of support. Trinquier observes that the “total SUPPORTING
dependence” the guerrilla has on the terrain and
population is his weak point, allowing the COIN force
THE MEN AND
to attack the guerrilla’s center of gravity. The isolation WOMEN OF THE
becomes effective, as the insurgent’s base of support
erodes from beneath him.
ARMED FORCES.
Trinquier is more holistic than his contemporary
Galula in how he addresses aviation utilized by a For all that you do, we are forever in
COIN force. He expounds on aviation when discussing
his ideas of isolating guerrillas in their zones by your debt.
having a quick reaction force (QRF) on standby, with
helicopters as the means to move them into the zone THE VALUE OF PERFORMANCE.
of action, as well as air drops for resupplies. He also
describes utilizing a sensor net to notify the alert QRFs
guarding the “Morice Line,” a physical and electronic
fence along the Algerian-Tunisian border. The “Challe
Plan” was developed by French Air Force Gen Maurice
Challe, who was overall commander of the French
w w w.nor thr opgrumman.com
COIN effort in Algeria from 1958-1960. It organized
sector troops, airborne regiments, and aviation units
to expedite infantry to intercept insurgent infiltrators.
The Challe Plan proved to be a military success, but
this was not enough to win the war. The insurgents
defeated the French on the political front, and France
lost Algeria. Had Gen Challe’s comprehensive plan
been in place earlier, working on the interlocking lines
of effort that Trinquier describes, it is possible that the
military “victory” could have beat the time horizon set
by the political events.
Building on Trinquier and Galula, US Army
doctrine writers came together in 2006 to write Field
Manual 3-24, Counterinsurgency. As noted previously,
Galula gave short shrift to aviation and the Army
followed suit. FM 3-24 has only a five-page annex
for air operations, Annex E, suggesting that air was an
afterthought for the authors. Continuing with the air as
an afterthought mentality, Annex E of FM 3-24 states
that airpower will most often be used for transport
and ISR. The relegation of aviation to an annex casts w w w.nor thr opgrumman.com
it more as a supporting element, rather than its own
function in COIN.
Perhaps it was a missed opportunity, as security
studies scholars addressed the topic prior to the
production of FM 3-24. Dr. James Corum provided an
excellent primer for air operations in COIN operations
© 2016 Northrop Grumman Corporation
with his “The Air War in El Salvador” article for

Small Wars Journal. He detailed how the insurgent
Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN)
had destroyed the Salvadoran Air Force and was
moving about the country in battalion-sized groups
with complete freedom of movement. Then, with the
provision of UH-1 Hueys, AC-47 Spookies, and AT-
37 Dragonfly aircraft, the Salvadorans were able to

punish the FMLN and force them to the negotiating table. This Counterinsurgency,” are the usual uses for aircraft when
was all done with a limitation of 55 US advisors allowed in El supporting operations. Mobility, ISR, and precision strike,
Salvador at any given time. Further, the presence of medical with consideration for strategic effects of an errant attack are
evacuation helicopters increased the fighting spirit and morale discussed over several pages, but these ideas are not intertwined
of the Salvadoran Army soldiers. With the knowledge that throughout the effort.
a wound would likely be treated quickly, Army esprit de Undaunted, the Joint Special Operations University’s
corps rose. Increased heavy fighting in 1985 produced more Rick Newton recently published his dissertation from King’s
casualties than years prior, but the Army suffered fewer deaths. College, London entitled Control Without Occupation, a study
Unfortunately, these lessons were not incorporated into FM of how to rely more on air assets in a COIN effort. Noting
3-24. that airpower provides an asymmetric advantage during
To overcome the seeming service parochialism in American irregular warfare, Dr. Newton seizes on the concept that the
COIN strategy and to offer a joint perspective, USAF Maj counterinsurgent has what his opponent does not: control of
Gen Charles Dunlap penned a response to FM 3-24, entitled the sky. Further, he stipulates that it is the non-kinetic effects
Shortchanging the Joint Fight?: An Airman’s Assessment that airpower can bring to bear that are often overlooked, but
of FM 3-24 and the Case for Developing Truly Joint COIN can have profound effects. This is the type of conceptualization
Doctrine. Far from being a USAF “let’s get in the fight” appeal that the Air Force needs to incorporate into doctrine to
to relevance, Gen Dunlap’s study focuses on making the COIN capitalize on our asymmetric capabilities, particularly while
effort as good as it can be. He points out that 3-24 is meant to we have unquestioned air superiority.
be the entire operation, as it is entitled “Counterinsurgency,” Further, by formulating and knowing the doctrine, air
not “Landpower in Counterinsurgency,” although the doctrine forces can be designed to the right size and shape. As opposed
is often referred to as such. Gen Dunlap does not offer airpower to utilizing the most expensive weapons systems designed
as a panacea, but rather is arguing against the “sprinkle some to survive a contested environment, clear air COIN doctrine
air stuff on it” approach that is too common in military staffs. can make the case for a high-low mix of aircraft, including
He notes that the three dimensional-fight requires a joint more cost-efficient platforms such as the A-29 Super Tucano,
solution, and gives credit to FM 3-24’s authors for including an AC-235 Gunship, and lighter ISR systems. The net effect
recommendations from non-governmental organizations of utilizing such aircraft would be less money spent, lower
(NGOs), “international organizations, academic experts, maintenance requirements and costs, better loiter time (though
civilian agency representatives, and journalists,” reflecting the sacrificing air refueling capability), and less wear and tear on
interagency and DIME effort required in COIN. In recognizing our high-end major weapons systems.
this, Dunlap highlights the absence of an air expert in drafting Perhaps blunting Airmen’s interest in this subject is its
the manual. nebulous nature. COIN is vague, and as AFDD 3-2 notes,
Gen Dunlap’s paper expresses why we as Airmen should “operational effectiveness can be hard to measure.” This can
be knowledgeable about the terrestrial force’s scheme of drive agents in the field to choose metrics for success that induce
maneuver and doctrine. He laments the lack of “effective what analysts Leo Blanken and Jason Lapore call “pathological
and articulate” advocates for airpower in COIN. It seems we behavior” on their part. Anyone who has engaged in advisory
Airmen have been victims of our own success in maintaining operations can understand this. The desire to show some sort
air superiority, with ground forces assuming we will not be of progress is real, and so is the need for staffs to quantify said
challenged. This has resulted in the land component viewing progress. Yet the technical nature of aviation and our desire
the USAF as “adjunct to their operations.” In order to contribute for quantitative analysis makes it difficult to conceptualize
to joint doctrine, this case clearly illustrates that Airmen must qualitative COIN theory and its associated airpower. Further
be proactive contributors in its formulation and fluent in the muddying the picture is the contrast of COIN’s chaos with the
various fields of military science. typically clean nature of the aviation environment. That too
Just after the release of FM 3-24, the Air Force published may be driving Airmen away from the messiness of injecting
its own doctrine, Air Force Doctrine Document (AFDD) air into doctrinal COIN.
2-3, Irregular Warfare. It included COIN axioms such as We can illustrate the necessity of strategic airpower
“legitimacy and influence are the main objectives” and advocates in COIN by briefly dissecting the Afghanistan
“COIN is a protracted affair,” though whether this can be campaign. It started out as an unconventional warfare
communicated to policy makers and an American public that operation, with US Army Special Forces detachments and
wants rapid results is questionable. Buttressing this effort, Central Intelligence agency teams supporting resistance
the Air Force released AFDD 3-2 in 2013, which was meant against the Taliban government. The conflict quickly became
to be read along with Joint Publications (JP) 3-22, Foreign conventional as more troops poured in to the country. Once
Internal Defense, JP 3-24, Counterinsurgency Operations, and Hamid Karzai was installed as the new head of state and the
JP 3-26, Counterterrorism. Gone were the “COIN Truths for Taliban retreated to the mountains to conduct guerrilla warfare,
Airmen,” and included are more refined ideas concerning ISR the US-led coalition adopted a COIN mission. The intractability
and target development. However, JP 3-22’s airpower section of this conflict has become clear, and as its duration passes
reads much like FM 3-24’s Annex E: Airpower in Insurgency. 15 years, it demonstrates the USAF’s doctrinal presumption
Encompassed in Chapter VII, “Supporting Operations for that “COIN is a protracted affair.” And yet airpower is being

applied mostly as “support-to” operations. Pakistani The PEOPLE
Col Irfan Ahmad postulates that focusing COIN air on
“support-to” missions such as strike requires perfect
intelligence. ISR and mobility are the indirect approach, The AIRCRAFT
but require political sensitivity in their use. Col Ahmad
contends that the strategic effect of even the presence
of air assets presents its own challenges in a COIN The SPIRIT
environment. Presently though, we have moved back to
smaller units working by, with, and through the Afghans
to achieve a lasting victory. Hopefully this reduced force
of the
is better able to promulgate our overall strategy through
an economy of force in order to produce fruitful political AIR COMMANDO
results.
As the United States prepares for the defense of Air Commando Journal Article
its global interests, it is prudent to consider the most
common kind of warfare. Over the past century, major
Submission Guidelines
combat operations have been the exception, with most
Our goal at the ACJ is to tell the Air Commando and
military engagements by US forces being some variety
of small wars. We need to develop more focused doctrine USAF Special Operations story, from our beginning to
for the Air Force beyond AFDD 3-2, fixing on how to today.
apply airpower in any given stage of COIN. Stipulating We need your help to do that. We seek quality
how best to utilize airpower in this environment, to both articles, well written, factually based, and reflecting
tactical and strategic effect is imperative and will set the your experiences living the special operations mission
stage for better joint integration by providing a baseline in all of its complexities. Submissions can be of
for air-to-ground integration in the COIN environment.
Concurrently, the Air Force needs to populate
any length, although 1500-3000 words would be an
Theater Special Operations Commands (TSOCs) and average suggestion. All articles will be edited as per
other appropriate staffs with COIN-savvy Airmen the Air University Style and Author Guide (found
to ensure the totality of airpower is planned for in its online at www.aircommando.org under the Journal
most effective and proper roles. By being members tab, and at the Hurlburt Field library).
of the staffs where operations are conceived, planned, Submit files electronically to: info@
and approved, proper coordination between the air and
aircommando.org. We use MS-Word. We also
ground efforts can be achieved, with greater efficiency
and effectiveness across the board. This will help to appreciate accompanying photos. Photos should be
safeguard all concerned from inappropriate application high resolution (300 dpi) and must indicate the source,
of airpower, save our resources, as well as educate our have a release for use, and a brief description. If your
joint brethren, improving our all-around performance submission is copyrighted, we will indicate that on the
These two efforts will drive the final step. Ten article.
years have passed since the publication of FM 3-24, and Please see www.aircommando.org for more
nearly four since JP 3-24, with many new lessons that
information under Air Commando Journal article
can be incorporated. Air Force doctrine experts need to
meet with US Army Training and Doctrine Command guidelines.
(TRADOC), US Marine Corps Combat Development
Command (MCCDC), and other stakeholders to review
JP 3-24 to improve how airpower can be nested in
all phases of COIN operations and to create a three-
dimensional how-to guide for COIN. Through these
processes, Airmen can help to continue to refine and
improve our doctrine to advance our own performance,
understand the strategic capabilities we possess, and
better support terrestrial operations with our fellow
warfighters.
About the Author: Maj Olish is a combat aviation advisor and

Pilot. He is currently a student at the Naval Postgraduate
School in Monterey, California.

In the
Family By Aaron B. Conner Sergeant Major Bradly Conner
Good evening honored guests and truest friends of the before going into college. After years of passing it by, I noticed
Special Operations Warrior Foundation. It is with the greatest a worn, red, three-ring binder, with many old numbered pages
honor and humility that I stand here tonight as a speaker at this full of various texts in all fonts and sizes. These 340 pages
grand event. were a collection of leadership material compiled by Brig
My name is Aaron Conner and I am a very grateful Gen Herbert Lloyd in 1992 for Army leaders to have and
recipient of the support that the SOWF community constantly to implement. As I thumbed through the pages I found an
offers children of fallen special operators. I am a college underlined phrase “that’s the army in which I should like to
graduate from Samford University and the University of fight”. Naturally, I read the rest of the page to see what kind
Alabama at Birmingham. I studied elementary and special of Army my dad wanted to fight in. The quote came from
education at Samford and studied military science while COL Pierre Raspeguy who was a French Parachute Infantry
earning my Army commission from UAB. I am currently in commander during a conflict against Algerian guerrillas in the
my second year as a grad student at Beeson Divinity School late 1950’s. He said the following:
and a lieutenant in the Army Reserves serving as a Chaplain
Candidate. Tonight, I want to tell you what it means to be in “Have you ever noticed, that in military history
the family of a special operator like my dad, Army Green Beret no regular army has ever been able to deal with
Sergeant Major Bradly Conner. the properly organized guerilla force? If we use the
My father was killed in action in Iraq in 2007 after being regular army in Algeria, it can only end in failure.
hit with an Explosively Formed Projectile while leading a I’d like France to have two armies: one for display
convoy of Green Berets. I was 14 years old when he was killed with lovely guns, tanks, little soldiers, fanfare, staffs,
and yet somehow I felt like my 40th birthday was just around distinguished and doddering generals, and dear little
the corner. I, like many others in the SOWF community, regimental officers who would be deeply concerned
soon found myself seeking to remember the ethos and spirit over the general’s bowel movements or their colonel’s
of my father. Questions on morality, maturity, manhood, and piles; an army that would be shown for a modest fee on
mortality would no longer be answered from the strong voice every fairground in the country.
of our fathers. Yet from them, we inherited the deep passion for The other would be the real one, composed entirely
learning, and eventually we all found a place or person to give of young enthusiasts in camouflage battledress, who
us the second best answer to the questions we sought. I looked would not be put on display, but from whom the
into my father’s extensive book collection to learn what ideas impossible efforts would be demanded and to whom
made him the man that he was. all sorts of tricks would be taught. That’s the army in
Now, I could stand here all night and tell you about how which I should like to fight.”
his underlined and worn Bible has shown me my savior, how -- COL Pierre Raspeguy
Wild at Heart has strengthened my masculinity despite a lack (10th Parachute Regiment)
of a father figure, or how the Lord of the Rings has instilled
in me an imagination only second to my sister’s. Yet tonight I read this quote when I was 17 and yet I knew its message
I want to share with you an obscure piece that I found a year long before then. My father took great pride in being the

Quiet Professional instead of the average GI Joe. Every night this life is brief compared to the eternity that our fathers now
before bed he would tuck us in and would ask me “Who am enjoy and that they cheer us on from the great cloud of witnesses.
I?” I would always answer in the manner that I was first told, With the constant support system of our SOWF community, our
“You’re a badass”. My father, like the others now with him, friends, our family and our faith, we will continue to do our
took no joy in being publically displayed or concerned with the fathers’ work and liberate the oppressed in whatever vocation
political side of the military. They became special operators we choose to do in this life.
because they were cut from a different cloth and sought to I will leave you all with the first entry in my father’s
protect the world in the most effective way, far removed from leadership collection. The Ancient Athenian Oath contains
the useless and the weak. True patriots and warriors to the core, within it the spirit of all our fathers and of us, those still here
these men conducted their lives in the same passionate manner in the fight.
in which they fought. They loved their brothers, their country,
their family, and their God with all that was in them even as “I will not disgrace the soldier’s arms, nor abandon
they died. the comrade who stands at my side; but whether alone
We who are left are deeply impacted by the ethos that or with many, I will fight to defend things sacred and
coursed through the veins of our fallen fathers. The widows profane. I will hand down my country not lessened, but
of these men will know more than anyone the utter depth of larger and better than when I received it.”
Indeed, our fathers handed down a dark and
dangerous world. Yet they have also handed down their
torch with which we take our place together on the
Editor’s note: COL Raspeguy is a fictional character in frontlines of this present darkness to do battle on behalf
one of the best treatments of COIN, The Centurions, of those still oppressed.”
by Jean Larteguy. The book is a thinly veiled novel
of the French experience in Algeria. The author Thank you all, de oppresso liber and may God bless you.
later acknowledged that several of the characters
are composites of actual serving officers, including
Roger Trinquier (described in Maj Olish’s article). About the Author: Aaron B. Conner, 2LT Chaplain Candidate
addressed attendees of the Special Operations Warrior Foundation
dinner on Nov 16, 2016 and has given his persmission to publish
his comments.
loneliness, the rage of unfairness, the devastating depression

of a future destroyed, and the burden of living on when their PRECISION, SERVICE, LOYA LTY, DISCIPLI NE.
hearts have been killed. Add to the mix of their personal hell,
the responsibility for the wellbeing of three distinct, terrified, ADD HOSPITALITY
angry, selfish, devastated, orphaned children and you will have and you’d have the E m erald Coast Convention Center.
a slight idea of what it takes to be a Special Forces widow.

Ironically and fortunately for us children, it is this series of
unrelenting trials that elevates our moms to superhero status.
Strength, honor, duty and tenacity are now taught to us by these
hardened women and the lessons are reinforced by the phantom
of our fathers.
We children of special operators seek excellence in all areas
of our life to prove that our fathers were right. They were right
to believe that they can make a difference even in the darkest
places of the world. They were right to help other people even
though their skin color, language, religion, or socio-economic 004037-Air Commando Ad.indd 1 8/30/11 7:38 PM
status may be different than theirs. They were right to take the
road less traveled and walk through the narrow gate, though
it may have been grueling to find. They were right to believe
that the constant pursuit of education is the key to success
regardless of circumstance. They were right to keep hope alive
despite impossible odds.
We honor our fathers by keeping that hope alive even
though they are not. We honor them by achieving greatness in
life, earning college degrees, taking on professions that benefit
those who are in need, and guiding others to do the same. Like
our fathers and mothers, we are not defeated by any challenge,
hindered for a time perhaps, but never defeated. We know that

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“USSOCOM has embraced design thinking and it

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Catherine is the daughter

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g & Education Directorate

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Special Operations School

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The 5th Special Operations counterparts, the 19th SOS at Hurlburt

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(Photo by Lori Werth)

The transformation from Airmen course (CAAMQC), and small unmanned

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TRANSITION FROM YOUR LIFE IN SPECIAL OPERATIONS

With your special operations training, you’ve proven that you’ll

Every company has a mission statement. Some are just more

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Partner Nation SOF

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offered flying training, eight RJAF maintenance personnel

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Editor’s note: The original Pave Low was

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A 58th SOW HH-60 refuels from an MC-130. (Photo courtesy

Students low crawl thru urban environment in SERE’s urban